what would i do without you
by kimmi-kub89
Summary: there aren't enough Ron stories without Hermione. so here is my own Ron/oc story. i hope you enjoy :   read and review!
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

The return

I didn't realize how much my life would change with that one letter.

The letter in question was the letter I received just after my 11th birthday telling me that I had been accepted in one of the most amazing wizarding school in the country, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

I'm Kimberley, but everyone just calls me Kim and I am a Muggle born witch. Muggle born means that I was born into a non magical family. A Muggle is what the wizarding world calls those who are non magical. I don't mind that my family isn't like me and they don't judge me for it, unlike some muggle's I know. My Mother, Chris is a music teacher at our local high school and my father, Robert runs his own mechanic shop, we're a pretty normal family.

It has been 5 years since I received that letter and I was about to start my 6th year at Hogwarts. A lot of things had changed including me. I was no longer the goofy, quiet little girl that started all those years ago. My frizzy dark brown hair had tamed into a nice wave, my chubbiness had filled out in all the right places and I finally had my braces removed. These little changes made me excited to go back to Hogwarts just that little bit more, this year I was hoping to finally attract the attention of a certain Gryffindor. I've had a crush on his since the first year, but he had always had eyes for someone else.

It was two weeks before school began which meant like the four summers before, I would be spending that remainder of the break at the Burrow with the Weasley family and my friends. Those friends being harry Potter, Ron Weasley, Ginny Weasley and Hermione Granger. I wouldn't really call Hermione a friend, we didn't get along all that well, but we were nice to each other for Harry and Ron's sake. We were a lot closer when we were in our younger years, until we discovered we had feelings for the same guy. It all fell apart from there.

Things in the wizarding world were becoming crazier every day. The dark Lord Voldemort aka he who must not be named had returned to power causing the wizarding world to erupt in chaos. To make matters worse other than world domination, Voldemort wanted to kill my friend. Something he failed to do fifteen years before. You see Harry is no ordinary wizard, he is the only wizard ever to survive the killing curse and at the time he was only an toddler. It was the same night that Voldemort had killed Harry's family.

Harry was some kind of wizarding celebrity these days, many people knew him as the 'boy who lived', or 'the chosen one'. He hated it, the attention that is. In our second year at Hogwarts, a first year student had come up to him and asked for his autograph.

Of course there were plenty of wizards that didn't feel so kindly towards him. Take the Malfoy's for instance. Draco Malfoy attends Hogwarts with us and he absolutely loathes harry, but then again his mother and father are some of Voldemort's biggest followers. The malfoy's have always had it in for harry and it made life just that little bit harder for him and the rest of us.

To make matters worse for Harry, our previous school year ended with Sirius black, Harry's god father, being killed by one of vlodemort's most dedicated followers. We all knew Harry was taking it rather hard, I mean you would too if you had seen the only living family that cared about you was killed right before your eyes.

Being Harry's friend meant you got into a lot of trouble. Whether it be intentional or not, but he was a true friend and I wouldn't give that up for anything.

This year my parents were pleased to hear that the Weasley family would be picking me up. I knew it was for mine and my family's safety, but they were oblivious to what was happening around us. The minister of Magic had made sure that the muggles were unaware of the dangers that Voldemort was causing so that a world wide panic, magical and non magical would not break out.

My family liked the Weasley's, my father especially enjoyed Arthur Weasley's company. Mr. Weasley worked of the ministry of magic in the Misuse of Muggle artifacts section. He loved to fiddle around with Muggle objects to find out how they worked and well my father loved to show him.

It was around lunch time when I heard the knock on the front door. I made my way down the hallway to answer it. I opened it and was not at all surprised to see Mr. Weasley standing in the doorway with Ron and the Twins Fred and George.

I noticed I wasn't the only one who had changed over the summer. Ron had gone from lanky to quite muscular, his red hair had become shaggier, but he still had those gorgeous blue eyes that made my legs grow weak.

I blushed slightly when I realized I was staring. I noticed his ears turn slightly pink as I looked over to Mr. Weasley.

"Hi Mr. Weasley," I greeted.

"It's nice to see you again, Kim", he hugged me hello.

"There she is, our little munchkin", Fred teased as I hugged him too.

"See Fred I told you she would be any taller", George said as he ruffled my hair.

For as long as I had known them, the Weasley twins had always picked on me about my height. Well I was a short 5'2, but not all of us could be as tall as them.

"Very funny", I replied sarcastically as I turned to greet Ron.

"Hey" he said, running his hand through his hair.

I blushed even more as I hugged him hello.

We all heard footsteps coming down the hall; I turned to see my father walking over to us.

"Arthur, what a pleasure to see you again", he greeted Mr. Weasley by shaking his hand.

"And you to Robert" Mr. Weasley smiled.

"I was wondering when you would arrive, I have the most interesting device I'd like you to see, it's called a stereo"

Dad lead Mr. Weasley down the hall and out to the shed as they talked animatedly about the stereo. It was quite amazing how much technology was kept out of the wizarding world. It was just me and dad home at the time, my mum was out grocery shopping.

I turned back to the boys; they all shook their heads at their father. I couldn't help but giggle a little.

I took the boys into the kitchen, we had no idea how long it would be till Mr. Weasley would be back. We sat down at the table and caught up.

"So how has your summer been?" I asked them.

"Busy", all three replied at the same time.

We all laughed again. I had missed them a lot over the break, life just wasn't the same without them.

"Care to elaborate?" I asked.

"Well Fred and I have been run down with orders", George explained.

"Especially now it's getting closer to school beginning again", Fred continued.

Fred and George owned a joke shop in diagon ally. Weasley Wizard Wheezes, it was called. They had the best jokes and pranks around. They were always creating new things and coming up with new ideas and they were good at it. Fred and George were the biggest pranksters Hogwarts had ever seen.

"And on top of it all, we've been trying to perfect a new fake wand".

"Of course mum won't let us test it out at home".

Mrs. Weasley loved her boys, but she didn't like them testing out their practical jokes on the rest of her family or inside her house. There had already been too many explosions and trips to St Mungo's hospital to count.

"I see", I said as the boys went on.

I listened to them talk about their business, while taking secret glances at Ron when I thought no one was looking. On every occasion I found myself locking eyes with him.

"So Kim, you look all grown up now", Fred chuckled.

"Uh yeah I had my braces taken off in the first week of break," I smiled showing them my teeth before adding, "finally".

"Looking good aye Ron", George nudged Ron in the side.

It causes both Ron and I to blush furiously. Ron muttered something to George as I kicked him under the table. The twins always picked on me for my crush on Ron.

Before anymore could be said, dad and Mr. Weasley returned from the shed, still talking excitedly. We knew if we didnt leave now then we would never get back to the Burrow.

I grabbed my trunk from my room and the boys loaded it into the back of Mr. Weasley's enchanted ford Angela. I hugged my dad goodbye and told him to hug my mum when she got home. I jumped into the back of the car between Ron and George. My arm bumping Ron's while putting on my seat belt brought back the blushing in both of us.

I waved to my dad as we drove away and sighed. I couldn't wait till we got there so I could see Mrs. Weasley and Ginny. Ginny was the closest thing I had to a sister.

I didn't say much on the way there, I just listened to Mr. Weasley chatting away about what my dad had shown him, he thought it was remarkable.

When we arrived at the Burrow, night was beginning to set in. the twins removed my trunk from the boot and carried it into the house. Ginny came running form the house to greet me. I ran over as soon as I saw her.

"You're finally here!" she cried out as she hugged me hello.

"I missed you like crazy!"

She literally pulled me into the house where Mrs. Weasley was waiting with one of he motherly hugs.

"How have you been dear?" she asked kindly.

"I've been great" I smiled.

Before I could say another word, Ginny was pulling me up the stairs to her room. The twin had left my trunk and the end of the bunk bed that Ginny and I would be sharing. We sat down on the bottom bunk and talked about our summers.

"Oh my gosh, your braces are gone" she squealed.

"I know thank goodness" I laughed.

"And your hair isn't frizzy anymore",

"Look at yours, it's so long now", I pointed at Ginny's hair.

"Yeah do you think he'll like it?" she asked.

I already knew who she was talking about. Ginny was the only person I had told about my crush on her brother, the twins had just guessed, and in return she told me about the boy she had a crush on.

Ginny had liked Harry since the first day she met him. It wasn't because he was famous or because the dark lord was after him, no it was because of him. In Ginny's eyes there was no boy braver, or kinder than harry. He had even saved her life back in her first year.

"If he doesn't Gin then he is blind" I assured her.

"So have you and Ron talked yet?" she asked raising one eyebrow.

"No, why bother Gin; he's all caught up on 'her'".

"I dunno about that", she smiled slyly.

Before I could reply, Mrs. Weasley called us down for dinner. Ginny and I made our way down to the kitchen leaving our previous conversation in the room.

Of course the boys were already at the tabled scoffing down their dinners. Ginny sat down next to her father leaving the only empty seat next to Ron, just my luck. We ate and the Weasley's caught me up on what was happening in the wizarding world.

Mr. Weasley told us about the extra precautions the ministry was putting in place at Hogwarts to make sure we were safe. He didn't go into details, the order believed that Voldemort had spies inside the ministry and that they were spying on those close to Harry.

Mid conversation there was a popping noise that made us all jump. Professor Albus Dumbledore, headmaster of Hogwarts had apparated into the Weasley kitchen. Standing to his right was none other that Harry Potter.

"Harry!" the room shouted in unison.

Mrs. Weasley grabbed harry into a tight hug. And ushered him to the table, placing a plate of food in front of him. Mr. Weasley took Dumbledore and took him into the living room to talk.

When they returned, we were told to grab our things and that we would be spending the rest of the break at the hide out of the Order of the Phoenix. So it was of to grimauld place. We grabbed our things and gathered in the living room. One by one we were apparated to the hide out.

There when we arrived were a few familiar faces. We were greeted by our transfiguration profeser, Minerva McGonagall. The werewolf, Remus Lupin sat at the table in the kitchen with Mad eye moody.

Literally as soon as Harry's feet hit the ground, Lupin grabbed and took him into the kitchen to talk. The rest of us were told to go upstairs and put our things into our rooms. Ginny and walked our things up to what would be our room. As I walked into the room I collided with something I fell backwards onto Ginny.

"ow geez!" said a voice. I rolled my eyes.

I rolled my eyes; Of course she would be here. I opened my eyes and saw that I had walked right into Hermione. I stood up and helped Ginny to her feet.

"Hermione", I said walking past her into the room.

She didn't reply, I assumed she was going to find harry or Ron. Ginny and I unpacked a few things and went over to harry and ron's room. Ginny and I sat on the floor at the foot of Ron's bed. Ron and Harry were sitting on Ron's bed, while Hermione sat on Harry's.

"So what are they talking about down there?" I asked

"I don't really know I was kicked out as soon as Snape got there" he answered.

"What snape's here?" Ron blurted out.

"Yeah, he got here while I was talking to Lupin".

"He's such a git", Ginny blurted out.

There were loud pops and the twins appeared in the room. It startled me just a little. I wished that they would announce themselves or something before just apparating into the room.

"Was that foul language we just heard little sister?" Fred smirked.

Ginny stuck her tongue out at him. She never did take her brothers seriously, but then most of us didn't.

"Well then we won't ask you if you'd like to hear what's happening", George dangled something in front of us.

"What's that?" I asked curiously.

"Well my dear, this is what we have been working so hardly on," George explained.

"This is an extendable ear," Fred finished.

The boys walked out the door, and naturally we all followed. We got to the top of the stairs and the twins paused and turned around to look at us all.

"Alright observe".

George lowered the ear down until it stopped just outside the closed kitchen door. We all gathered around and listened. At first we couldn't hear anything, and then the voices came.

"He has a right to know", Lupin's voice said.

"He's too young for this kind of thing to be thrown at him", that voice was Mrs. Weasley.

"Now is not the time for us to be discussing this", Dumbledore spoke, but before we could hear the rest there was an interruption.

Hermione's cat crookshanks began to play with the ear. She pulled at it until it fell to the floor and she ran off with it in her mouth.

"Bad crookshanks!" Hermione whispered at her cat.

"Bloody thing," I muttered.

Hermione shot me a vicious look, which I happily returned. That cat had been nothing but problems since she got it.

"Well our prototype is ruined," George said as he stood up.

"Back to the drawing board."

Hermione apologized for crookshanks, but the boys just waved her off. They headed back the down stairs. Ginny and I followed Harry and Ron back to their room, with Hermione following closely behind.

Things became very secretive around the place after that. No one spoke about anything to do with Harry or Voldemort. If the conversations drew upon those topics we were sent up to our rooms, no arguments.

It was a long two weeks at that house. We were all relieved when the day came that we would be going back to Hogwarts. Ginny and I had packed everything up the night before and made sure we doubled checked everything before going down stairs for breakfast.

The tension in the kitchen was unmixable. No one spoke unless spoken to, it was a little unnerving. Lupin spoke to Harry alone one last time before we left for the station. We said goodbye to the twins and then we were off.

We arrived at the station and walked onto platform 9 and 3/4 just in time. The scarlet engine was just starting to fire up. After a tearful good bye hug from Mrs. Weasley, we lugged our trunks down the train in search of an empty compartment. We didn't find one, but we found a compartment only occupied by our good friend Luna Lovegood.

"Hey Luna mind if we join you?" I asked.

"Of course you may," she smiled.

Ron and Hermione said goodbye and made their way down to the prefect's compartment. Harry helped us put our trunks into the compartments and we say down with Luna. She went back to reading her Quibbler.

The train ride was long and was spent mostly very quiet. We were joined by Ron and Hermione when were about half way there. I stared out the window while Hermione went on about O. results and the classes we would be taking this year.

Harry explained to us that Snape wouldn't be taking potions this year, which please all of us. Dumbledore might trust Snape, but the rest of us still thought he was up to no good.

When we could see the school out the window, Ron and Hermione went back to the prefect's compartment. We were finally back. We quickly changed into our school robes and got our stuff ready. The train slowly pulled into the station. We could see Hagrid standing at the end of the platform waiting for all the first years. They would be taking the boats up to the castle as usual. Harry. Ginny, Luna and I left our trunks with Filch and got into one of the carriages that took us up to the castle.

This was the beginning of what I knew was going to be a very eventful year for all of us, we just didn't know it yet.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Think out side the box

Our first week of school was a blur. Mr. Weasley hadn't been lying when he said there would be extra precautions in place around the school. We noticed the presence of auror's the moment we enter the Hogwarts gates. Our belongings were inspected and searched for any banned items before being allowed into the castle. The ministry had Auror's placed on the gates, in the castle and on the grounds to make sure no dark wizard would be able to enter.

Although many of us believed that Voldemort would not attack the castle while Dumbledore was alive. Many wizards believed Dumbledore to be the only wizard Voldemort ever feared.

Harry was right about Snape no longer taking Potions, that job had been given to Professor Slughorn, an old friend of professor Dumbledore. Harry had told us about his visit to Slughorn with Dumbledore before he had been brought to the Burrow. Unfortunately Snape hadn't just disappeared like we had hoped; he was given the Defense against the Dark Arts class. We weren't very pleased about that.

At breakfast on the first day, professor Magonagall came around and handed out our schedules. My schedule was the same as Harry and Ron and I was glad to see that I had a few classes with out Hermione. She had taken arithmancy and Muggle studies; I don't know why she chose Muggle studies after all she was Muggle born.

Our classes involved more advanced magic's this year. Magonagall had assured us that we would be tested on a weekly basis to make sure we were keeping up with the work we were being given, especially in her class. I wasn't too concerned; transfiguration was one of my better subjects.

It was our first potions lesson that caught out attention the most. Professor Slughorn had just begun our first lesson, when Harry and Ron came running through the door. The class went silent and looked at the door.

"Ah harry good to see you and I see you've brought a friend with you", Slughorn announced happily.

"Yes professor, sorry to interrupt", Harry shrugged.

"Never mind that, you and Mr. uhh…" Slughorn looked at Ron.

"Ron Weasley sir", he corrected.

"Yes you and Mr. Weasley find a seat and take out your books".

He turned back to the board when Harry interrupted again. He cleared his throat causing the professor to turn around again.

"Sorry sir, but we didn't believe we would be able to attend this class so we didn't purchase the required texts", Harry explained.

"That's fine; there are a couple of books in the cupboard in the back".

Harry and Ron walked to the cupboard and after a little wrestling sat at the table across from Neville Longbottom and i. It seemed Harry got the raw end of the deal. Ron had managed to get the decent copy of the text book, while Harry ended up with a ratty old one.

The class continued like normal. Slughorn had offered a prize for the student who managed to get the potion the closest to what it was supposed to be.

We had all expected Hermione, being the brainiac she was to be the one to get it right. I could see Seamus's potion letting off smoke when it wasn't supposed to be.

"PST Harry!" I whispered attempting to get his attention.

He heard me and looked over. Neville and I pointed at Seamus's now bubbling potion before slowly shielding ourselves under our desk. Harry grabbed Ron by the sleeve and pulled him under the table just before the potion exploded covering the room with a lilac sludge.

The four or us slowly returned to the surface of our tables and examined the damage. I let out a laugh when I saw Hermione wiping the sludge off her face.

"Mr. Finnegan, please make your way to the hospital wing while I clean this mess", Slughorn ushered Seamus out of the room.

He waved his wand and the mess disappeared. The rest of the lesson went on accident free after that.

When it came to the end of class, we were all surprised to find that Harry had produced the best potion. It was better than Hermione's, in fact in was practically perfect. We were all a little shocked at it; we weren't used to Hermione being second best at things.

It wasn't until we were dismissed from class that the questions began.

"How did you do it?" Hermione almost demanded.

"What do you mean?" Harry asked with a slight smirk.

"You know what I mean", she snapped.

"Seriously Hermione, I don't know what your talking about", he assured her.

She huffed, but didn't press the matter any further. We left her at the arithmancy class room while we went to divination. I was dying to ask how Harry had managed to beat Hermione at something that she was never beaten at.

We all sat up the back of the room; no one liked being called upon in this class.

When we finally got a free moment Ron and I cornered Harry. We were in the common room, which was empty except for a few first years. We sat in the couches around the fire place.

"Ok spill Potter", I looked him straight in the eye.

"And none of that I dunno trollop you gave Hermione", Ron added.

"Alright, alright, but she doesn't hear a word of this", he made us swear.

He then proceeded to pull out his potions book and placed it in front of us on the table. I picked it up and examined it for myself. From the outside it just looked like a very old and used copy of the book I had, but when I opened it and looked inside I found something more. In the margins of the book and in the corners we found instructions that slightly differed from what the text read.

"I just followed what was written and the potion just worked", he explained.

"Harry this is brilliant!" Ron exclaimed.

I handed the book to Ron so he could examine it for himself. I turned to Harry and asked the question that was now playing on my mind.

"Harry, whose book is that?" I asked.

"I don't know, all it says is 'Property of the Half Blood Prince'", he shrugged.

Ron passed the book back to me and I in turn gave the book back to Harry. Harry placed the book in the bottom of his bag and leaned back in the chair. I could tell we were all thinking the same thing.

"Who do you think he is?" Ron asked breaking the silence.

Harry and I both shrugged. In our whole time at Hogwarts, we had never heard any references to anyone known as the Half blood Prince. We all had our theories, but that's all they were. We didn't mention anything Harry had shown us when we finally met up with Harry. We knew she would want him to hand it over to a teacher. She'd say because it was dangerous, I knew it would be that she didn't like the competition.

The only thing that really bothered me about our classes was our 'new' Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. We all knew Snape had been after the job for years and now that he had the position, he was making things difficult. The homework load he had given us was just an example of it. He expected us to do three essays by the end of the week.

I think we were all glad when the weekend finally arrived. I got up early on Saturday and walked down to the common room, while all the other girls in my dormitory were still sleeping. I found that I wasn't the only one who was awake. Ron was sitting at one of the tables writing what looked like a letter. I assumed it was a letter to his parents, so I didn't pry.

"Morning", I greeted him with a smile.

"Hey there", he smiled back.

I sat down across from him. He quickly put the letter away in one of his books so that I couldn't see it anymore. I watched him silently as he put his things away. I blushed furiously when he caught me watching him. His ears turned slightly pink.

"So what do you wanna do today?" I asked him.

"Not to sure yet", he replied, "I know Harry was thinking about planning the quidditch try outs soon".

"Cool", I smiled.

As if he had been summoned, Harry came walking down the stairs from the boy's dormitory. He yawned as he sat down in the empty seat next to Ron. I listened as they talked animatedly about who they thought should try out of the Gryffindor team this year. They needed two new beaters this year now that the Weasley twins had finished school and that wasn't all.

The conversation continued as we walked down to the Great Hall for breakfast. We had just sat down when Hermione came running over to us.

"Hey you didn't wait for me", she exclaimed a little flustered.

"Shorry 'ermione", Ron apologized through mouthfuls of toast.

"Yeah sorry, we were planning try outs", harry explained.

She just nodded and sat down grabbing something to eat. After breakfast we walked to professor Magonagall's office and organized a day that the boy could hold their try outs. She agreed the sooner the better, so she booked the quidditch pitch for the next two Saturdays.

Harry and Ron ran back to the common room excitedly. They were quick to put up the try out sign up sheet on the notice board for everyone to see.

While the Harry and Ron chatted to Dean Thomas and Ginny about the try outs, I figured I should probably write to my parents. I went up to the girl's dormitory and grabbed some paper and a quill, then walked back down to the tables.

I wrote to them about our first week and all our classes. I made sure to tell them how much I missed them. I missed them a lot especially my mum, we had always been really close.

When the letter was finished I stood up and walked over to where the quidditch conversation. They all stopped talking when I walked over.

"Hey do you think I might be able to borrow an owl?" I asked no one in particular.

"Sure you can borrow Pig if you like", Ron offered.

I nodded and he walked with me up to the owlery. We talked about random things like our families and what we wanted to do when we were finished our schooling. We joked about our families and how they were so different. Ron teased me about my height so I shoved him and ran ahead laughing. He chased after me laughing along with me. He finally caught me as we ran into the owlery. He grabbed me around the waist and spun me around in circles.

"Ok you win!" I cried between laughs.

He laughed out loud, but put me back on my feet. I was happy when he finally put me down, it gave me a chance to catch my breath. He let his hands linger on my waist a little longer, not that I minded.

He smiled at me and walked over to where his pygmy owl was perched next to Harry's snowy owl Hedwig. Pig seemed excited to see Ron and hopped excitedly up his arm and on to his shoulder. I gave him a little scratch as Ron tied the letter to his leg. He then hopped back down Ron's arm and flew out the window.

We watched as the tiny little owl disappeared into the horizon. We watched until he had finally flown out of sight before we walked back to the common room. It was really the first time that the two of us had really spent just by ourselves and I was really enjoying it. Well that is I was enjoying it until we were interrupted by a certain nosey witch.

We had just entered the corridor heading back to the Gryffindor common room when I heard her call out.

"There you are Ron, I was looking for you", Hermione called as she ran over to us.

"I was just lending Kim Pig so she could send a letter home", he told her.

I forced a smile at her, but he just kept talking to Ron. It was like I wasn't there at all and that annoyed me a lot.

"Well I was wondering if you wanted to go over some charms notes?" she asked.

Ron looked over at me, but what could I say. I shrugged it wasn't as if we had planned to do anything anyways. He turned back to Hermione and nodded.

"Sure might as well", he shrugged.

"Great", she smiled a little too happily and ran back to the common room.

"Sorry about that", he apologized, running his hand through his hair.

"Its fine", I assured him.

He smiled at me before we both walked into the common room. I sat down with Ginny while Ron, Harry and Hermione headed out to the library to study. I sighed a little as I watched them leave through the portrait.

Ginny asked me what was wrong o I told her about the encounter in the hallway with Hermione and how she had been so excited to be studying. We both knew what the reason for that was.

It was fairly obvious that Hermione had feelings for Ron and that they had been there for quite a long time. Her feelings about were probably as obvious to me as mine were to her.

"You should have gone with them", Ginny demanded, "It's rude of her not to invite you since you're in the same class".

She didn't like her very much either. Apparently Hermione had wanted Ginny to give her information about Ron, but Ginny figured that if she really likes her brother then she could ask him herself.

"As much as I'd have loved to stick that to her, I'm just not in the moo today", I explained.

Ginny and I decided we would study together. I liked helping Ginny out and it wasn't too hard because I had done the same work the year before.

Harry, Ron and Hermione didn't come back from the library until just before dinner. We all walked down to the great hall together. Neither Ginny nor I mentioned the study session; we just let Hermione think she was winning at her little games. I was trying not to let it get to me.

The dinner conversation went back to quidditch like earlier that day. It got me thinking that maybe I should try out for the team this year. I wasn't terrible at quidditch and they did need two new chasers, which was the position I always played in our muck around games. I knew Ginny wanted to try out as well. I figured it was worth running the idea past Harry since he was the team captain after all.

"Hey Harry?" I called shyly.

"Yeah?" he looked over curiously.

"What would you think if I said I was thinking about trying out for a chasers position this year?" I asked just throwing the idea out there.

Ginny and Ron both looked up at me a little shocked. Hermione, however just rolled her eyes. Harry looked as if he was contemplating before he spoke.

"You know that might not be such a bad idea," he smiled, "after all you and Ginny make a great team".

"Cool count me in for try outs then" I smiled back.

Ron smiled widely at me as I gave Ginny a high five. I felt really good about this.

The closer try outs got, the more excited I became. The night before I could hardly sleep. I lay in my bed unable to get comfortable, it was as if I was no longer tired.

Eventually I gave up sleeping and just got up. I looked at my watch and found it was only two in the morning. I silently crept down to the common room trying my hardest not to wake the sleeping girls in my dorm, grabbing a book on my way out.

I was pleased to find that the common room was empty. I made myself comfortable on one of the couches noxt to the fire place. The remaining embers in the fire were slowly burning out. I opened my book and strted reading.

Reading was something I had always enjoyed, even as a small child. It was my way of escaping the things around me. I remembered when ever I was picked on in school I would always hide in the library reading till all the hurting went away.

I'm not sure how long I had been sitting there when I heard movement. I looked out one of the windows and noticed it was still dark. I figured it was probably someone else who couldn't sleep, because no one would be getting up for breakfast yet.

I watched the stair cases and waited for the person to appear. I think my heart skipped slightly when I saw Ron walking quietly down the stairs. He yawned kind of loudly and rubbed his eyes.

"Couldn't sleep either", I whispered.

Ron jumped a little when he heard me; it seemed he wasn't aware that I was there at all.

"Yeah I'm nervous I guess", he replied finally sitting down beside me.

"Nervous about what?" I asked.

I placed my bookmark into the section of the book I was up to and placed the book down on the table closest to me.

"I'm nervous about try outs", he explained, "I'm scared their going to find a better keeper".

"Don't be silly, you're an amazing keeper", I assured him.

"I'm not that great", he blushed.

"Are you kidding, some of your saves have been unbelievable".

I poked him playfully until he smiled. He wrapped an arm around my shoulder and hugged me slightly.

"Sounds like you're my biggest fan" he chuckled.

"You know it", I laughed along with him.

I'm not sure when, but sometime between then and morning the two of us dozed off. We were awoken by an excited harry just before breakfast.

I opened my eyes and found myself snuggled into Ron's chest, as he held me there with his arms wrapped around me. I sat up and blushed like crazy. Ron was woken by my sudden movements.

The three of us walked down to breakfast together, the only person talking was Harry curiously asking about what had happened the night before. Both of us denying anything and blushing more. I knew Ron was still nervous because he kept running his hand through his hair.

We were half way through eating when the mail arrived. Two letters dropped onto the plate in front of me. I opened the first one to find a letter from my family.

_Dear kimmy,_

_It is so good to hear that things are going well. I'm so sorry that I wasn't there to say goodbye to you when you left._

_Dad and I both miss you like crazy sweetie._

_We both can't wait for your next letter; it's hard not having you here when we want to say things to you._

_Hope you're having fun_

_Say hi to Harry and Ron for us!_

_Love mum and dad_

_Xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox_

I smiled reading the letter from my mum. It made me miss her so much more. Ron and Harry both read the letter over my shoulders.

"In case you two weren't aware, my mum says Hi", I laughed.

The two of them sat back down and laughed as well. I put the letter in my pocket and turned to the second one sitting in front of me. I was curious about who this one was from, since no one else really wrote to me other than my parents.

I turned the envelope over and unsealed it before taking out the letter and reading.

_Dear Kim_

_I really like you a lot_

_But I'm scared you won't feel the same_

_Signed …._

I re read the letter over and over again, trying to figure out if this was some sort of joke. I looked around the filling great hall looking for anyone acting strangely, but found nothing.

I could feel my eyebrows scrunching together. Harry and Ron both looked at me oddly so I passed them the letter. I watched as they both read the strange letter.

"Looks like you have a secret admirer", Harry smirked.

"I do not", I huffed snatching the letter back off him.

Ron sat silently, although he stiffened slightly about it. I knew harry wasn't going to let this go. Maybe I picked on him a little about Cho and I guessed it was his turn to get a little pay back on me.

I stuffed that letter into my pocket with the other one and finished off my breakfast. Once we had eaten the three of us headed for the quidditch pitch. When we got there we found a good group of eager gryffindor's ready to try out for the team.

Harry didn't waste any time, he put us straight into it.

We started with the beaters; after all we needed two new ones. Once they were settled Harry moved on to the chasers. Ginny and I put on show some of the plays we would do when playing in the Weasley yard.

Harry was impressed enough to pick us both. I was over the moon. I hadn't actually thought I would get on the team.

Last off was the keeper tryout and there were only two candidates. Ron's only competition was Cormack Mclaggen, who was an arrogant git if you asked me. Cormack had been strutting around the common room all morning telling everyone how he was going to be the next Gryffindor keeper. He was more than cocky about it, it was overly annoying.

Ginny and I hung around to cheer on Ron. He looked so nervous; it was almost like he was going to be sick. I knew he had it in him to pull this off, I just wished he'd give himself some credit.

Ginny and I weren't the only ones watching. I could see Hermione in the stands watching along with Parvati Patil and Lavender Brown. Lavender kept whispering to Parvati and got overly excited when Ron saved a goal.

I was right though. At the end of the day No one was better suited for the position than Ron, so of course he was picked. Mc laggen didn't take it too well, but that was too bad.

You could feel the relief flooding off him. It was looking to be a pretty strong team this year. We wanted to win the quidditch cup this year, we were determined.

It was exciting now that we had our team; it meant that next week instead of holding another trial we could get straight into practicing. After all we did have Slytherin in the first match and they always gave us a fight, mainly because they played the dirtiest.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Is that what you call it?

Quidditch practice was going really good and by the day the big game arrived I was over the moon with excitement. Ron on the other hand wasn't so keen.

I found Harry, Ron and Ginny at the Gryffindor table when I came down for breakfast. Ron looked like he was ready to puke into the scrambled eggs on the plate in front of him.

"Oh know, what's wrong with him?" I asked.

There was no way that I was letting Cormack anywhere near the goal posts on our first game of the season and against our biggest enemy. Ron was the best Gryffindor keeper we've had since Oliver Wood and I didn't just think that because I liked him.

"His nerves have got the better of him", Ginny told me.

"Ron you really should eat something", Hermione said pushing his plate closer to him.

It just made his face turn greener. We watched Ron all with worried faces. That is until we caught a look at the strangest outfit I had ever seen. Luna Lovegood came and sat down next to us. She was wearing a lion's mane and a Gryffindor supporter's shirt along with matching pants. The other students form her Ravenclaw house gave her some very odd looks.

I noticed Harry doing something to Ron's drink out of the corner of my eye. I watched him pretend to put something in the drink and then put the vile back in his pocket.

I knew exactly what he was doing and I intended to play along. See in that first potions lesson, for Harry's perfect potion professor Slughorn awarded him with a small vile of liquid luck. Harry knew that if Ron thought he had drunk the liquid luck, then he would play as if he knew he would win and luck was on his side. Luna noticed Harry's actions as well.

"Is Ron not feeling well?" she asked.

"He is a bit nervous about the game", I explained.

"Oh, is that why you put something in his drink harry?" she asked.

Everyone's eyes fell on Harry. He tucked the vile deeper into his pocket. Hermione turned to him with a scowl on her face. Ron's eyes lit up as he grabbed for the glass before Hermione could get to it.

"Ron don't you dare!" she scalded, before turning back to Harry, "Harry how could you, that's cheating".

"Come off it Hermione, it's not the world cup", I said and Ginny nodded in agreement.

She always had a knack of taking things out or proportion. She glared at me, but it bounce off my skin now. Things hadn't always been this way. Sure I had never really liked her very much. I always thought she was bossy and stuck her nose where it didn't belong, but other than Ginny she was the only girl I really talked to. Then one day I thought I would talk to her about my feelings for Ron, which was a big mistake.

_*Flashback*_

_I sat in the common room and went over my charms essay. Hermione sat beside me doing the same. She was just starting to pack up her things when I gathered up the courage to ask her advice._

"_Hey Hermione can I ask you something?" I asked her._

"_Sure", she replied sitting back down._

"_Ok so there is this really awesome guy and I like him a lot, but I don't know how to tell him", I explained._

"_Ok well I really don't know about this kind of stuff, I mean there is this guy that I like too, but I'm too scared he won't feel the same"._

"_Oh is it Harry? Because you shouldn't be scared, you've been friends for ages" I encouraged her._

"_No it's not Harry, but if you like Harry then go for it, I know he thinks highly of you"._

_This was a little weird, I had never thought of Harry like that. He was more of the annoying brother my parents never had and he knew I thought of him that way._

"_Hermione, who is it that you like?" I asked her, hoping I wasn't going to hear that name._

"_Well, I like Ron" she blushed._

_I sat there silently, letting her words replay over in my mind. I had always suspected that she had liked him; she had always paid extra attention when we had our study sessions. _

"_I see", I finally managed to reply._

"_Kim who is it that you like?" she asked now._

_I knew she suspected my answer. I wasn't sure I actually wanted to tell her, I didn't know how she was going to react._

"_Well the thing is, I like Ron too"._

_Her face went a slight purple colour. She looked rather annoyed at my answer. I want going to lie to her; I wasn't ashamed of liking Ron._

"_Too bad I like him first", she snapped at me._

"_Excuse me?" I asked shocked at what she had said._

"_I said I liked him first, so back off!" She snapped again._

"_I can't help who I like and nothing you say is going to change that", I spat back at her._

_I stood up and packed up my books, I wasn't going to sit there and listen to her if she was going to be like that. She too began to pack her things angrily. She stood at the foot of the stairs and glared at me._

"_Don't you dare try anything with him, or I'll make your life miserable", she hissed._

"_Bring it on" I hissed back._

_*end flashback*_

I wasn't going to let Hermione intimidate me, not then and definitely not now. Ron looked down at his goblet and without hesitation gulped the liquid down. He placed the goblet back on the table in front of him.

"How do you feel?" Ginny asked.

"I feel great!" he exclaimed.

He stood up and with out another word, marched out to the quidditch pitch. The rest of us followed closely behind him. Luna and a moody Hermione made their way into the stands, while the rest of us entered the change rooms.

We changed into our quidditch robes and waited to go out onto the pitch. Harry stood at the front; after all he was the team captain. I stood up the back next to Ron. I was starting to get a little nervous now. Ron on the other hand was more confident than I had ever seen him.

"Are you ready for this?" I asked.

"You bet I am" he replied with a smile.

I smiled back at him. I'm not sure what came over me, but before I could think about it I stood up on my tip toes and kissed him on the cheek.

"Good luck", I blushed.

"t-thanks", he stuttered.

Madam Hooch called out the two teams onto the pitch. We lined up and faced the Slytherin team. It seemed that the slytherins had replaced Malfoy as their seeker. I figured he was too busy being a git to have time for the team, that and he did a lot of sneaking around these days.

We got on to our brooms and took to the air. Madam Hooch released the bludgers and then the golden snitch before finally releasing the quaffle and beginning the game.

The game was fast paced and crazy, but Ron never missed a goal. Ginny, Angelina and I managed to score a few times avoiding the bludgers that were being pelted at our heads. More than once Pansy Parkinson tried to knock me off my broom.

We saw the new Slytherin seeker turn into a nose dive. Harry chased after him thinking he had seen the snitch. He hadn't though he was trying to take out harry, but harry was too fast for him.

The game went on for what felt like forever and then he saw it. Harry took off past me like a bullet with the Slytherin seeker close on his tail.

I held my breath; all I could do was watch. Harry began to dive; he was getting closer and closer to the ground to the ground. I thought he was going to crash, but at the last minute he pulled up. We watched silently for a moment until Harry raised his hand with the snitch.

The crowd erupted with cheers. We all flew over to him hugging him tightly. Not even the boo's coming from the Slytherin team could be heard.

We continued the celebrations back in the common room. Some of the students managed to sneak some food from the kitchens. It was going off. Harry and I pulled Ron aside and sat him down; we had to confess something to him.

"You did that on your own you know" I smiled at him.

"What are you talking about?" he asked confused.

Harry held up the unopened bottle of liquid luck in front of Ron's nose. He grabbed the vile and examined it for himself.

"You mean i saved all those goals by myself?" he said in disbelief.

Harry and I both nodded. Ron jumped up off the chair with a new found confidence in his eyes. He threw the bottle down to Harry and hopped up onto one of the tables and cheered.

We couldn't help but sit there ad laugh. Hermione sat down beside Harry and frowned. Seriously I didn't get her, she was angry when she thought Harry had been cheating; now she was angry that Harry had tricked her. You just couldn't win with this girl.

"That was a dirty trick Harry" she scalded.

I turned away while they talked; I wasn't going to let her ruin my mood. I looked up at Ron who was still cheering loudly on the table. I watched as he was joined on the table by lavender brown who proceeded to throw herself into his arms and kiss him on the lips.

My jaw dropped and I felt something break inside me. I couldn't believe my eyes, yet I couldn't stop looking at the scene in front of me. I could feel tears beginning to well up in my eyes and I wasn't going to let them see. I stood up quickly running from the common room. I ran and kept running not thinking where I was headed. I finally stopped when I had reached the owlery. I sat down on one of the steps and let the tears fall.

I didn't know why I let myself feel this way, I knew inside he didn't feel the way that I did yet I stilled hoped. I put my hands in my pockets looking for a tissue; instead I pulled out the letter I had received that morning. I read over it again and figured now that I was certain that Ron wasn't interested in me it couldn't hurt replying to this letter.

I found some blank parchment that someone had left in the owlery and wrote a reply.

_Dear …_

_Your letter has made me curious._

_How could you know that I don't have feelings for you, if I don't know who you are?_

_I don't even know if this will reach you, but if it does a little more information would be nice._

_Maybe then I can decide how I feel._

_Sincerely Kim _

I folded the letter and walked over to the school owl that had delivered the letter. I knew her clearly from the distinct markings she had on her feathers.

"Alright Rosey, I want you to take this letter to the person who sent me this", I showed her the letter.

She hooted softly at me and flew out the window. I sat down on the step and watched her fly around the castle. I wasn't ready to head back to the common room just yet. I didn't want to have to see the guy that I had such strong feelings for kissing someone else.

I didn't even move when someone sat down beside me. They didn't say anything at first and that was fine with me. We sat there with out a word for what seemed like hours. Eventually they spoke and I realized it was Ginny who had found me.

"They've stopped snogging if that helps" she said placing an arm around my shoulder.

"Not really", I sighed.

"Well Hermione didn't take it well either", she added.

"How so?" I asked.

"Well she was so angry that she sent a swarm of paper birds shooting after him"

I couldn't help but giggle a little bit. I knew that's what Ginny wanted, to see a smile on my face. Well she got it, however I still felt awful inside.

"I though maybe he might be realizing that I liked him", I confessed.

"Kim, my brother is an airhead. He wouldn't know it was his birthday if mum didn't remind him".

I laughed again. She didn't have a point; Ron was definitely not the most observant person in the world.

When it started to get dark I knew it was time to head back, whether I wanted to or not. So we walked back taking our time. When we got back the party was still happening. I wasn't really in the celebrating mood now, so I headed up to the girls dormitory. The party was definitely over for me so there wasn't really a reason to hang around.

I could hear Ron calling me back, but I wasn't going to talk to him now. I couldn't I knew it would only make me more upset and that's not what I wanted now.

I changed into my pajamas and climbed under the covers of my bed. I pulled the blankets up over my head and I laid there listening to the commotion going on down stairs eventually falling asleep. I didn't even hear the other girls coming to bed.

The next morning when I woke everyone was still asleep. It seemed like the party had gone well into the night. I walked down to the common room and noticed a few of the school house elves cleaning up. I offered some assistance, but they declined looking as though I had offended them buy asking.

I walked down to the great hall for breakfast and found that all the tables had at least some students, well except the Gryffindor table that is. I returned the wave hello that Luna was giving me, as strange as she was she was still such a sweetie.

It wasn't until I was nearly finished that my fellow gryffindor's began to join me at the table. Once I was finished eating I walked back up to the common room to get my school stuff. I was planning to go sit own by the lake and study a little, it was a Sunday after all and I had nothing better to do.

I met Harry at the bottom of the dormitory stair cases. He looked as if he hadn't slept at all that night.

"Morning" I greeted him.

"Morning to you too" he yawned.

If I knew Harry right, he would be waiting for Ron to come down stairs and I was still a hurt from the events from the previous night to talk to Ron.

"What you got planned for today?" Harry asked.

"Going to study by the lake" I told him.

"I see" he smiled; I knew there was something else that he wanted to ask me.

"Harry what's on you mind?" I pressed.

"Well, I noticed you disappear after the Lavender incident and Ginny may have mentioned that you had feelings for him", Harry trailed off.

Ginerva Weasley you are so dead, I thought to myself. I was going to kill Ginny when I saw her; this was supposed to be a secret. She swore to me that she wouldn't say anything, especially Harry. After all he was the closest person to Ron there was, they were best friends.

"Yeah about that" I sighed.

"Why didn't you tell me about it?" he asked sounding a little hurt, "I though I was like a brother to you?"

"That's why I couldn't Harry, because you're his best friend Harry and it doesn't matter anyway, he clearly likes someone else".

As if someone had summoned him, Ron appeared at the top of the stairs. He had something hidden in his hand and when he notice me looking at it he quickly shoved it in his pocket. I figured it was probably a love note to Lavender or something and I really wasn't in the mood for it.

I could see him going to say something to me, so I cut him off. I didn't want to hear anything especially if he was going to bring up last night. So before he managed to get a word out I made my escape.

"Anyway Harry I'm going to go", I said abruptly and walked away before he could ask anymore questions.

I was happy to see that when I returned with my books they were no longer hanging around in the common room. They had probably gone down to the great hall before breakfast was over. I walked down to the lake and sat in the shade of one of the big trees. I could see Hagrid's hut with out the lights on. I missed talking to Hagrid and having Fang drool all over us it was something that as strange as it sounded, made Hogwarts what it was to me. Now that he was doing work for Dumbledore, we never got to see him anymore.

I opened up my herbology text book and began reading over the chapter we had just completed. We had to hand in a parchment with a summery of what we had learned. I didn't mind doing these kinds of assignments, mainly because herbology was one of the subjects I had always like.

I was about half way through the parchment when something hit me in the head. I looked down beside me to see a letter addressed to me. I then proceeded to look in the tree above me and saw that Rosey the owl was in one of the branches.

I knew that this letter was a reply to the one I had sent the previous night, but I hadn't expected a reply so soon. I was both nervous and excited to read the reply. I carefully unfolded the parchment and read.

_Dear Kim_

_I was surprised to get your reply to my letter_

_You do have a point though, with out knowing my identity you can not make a decision._

_I am willing to give you some hints, but I will not give who I am away easily._

_Signed ….._

Rosey sat in the tree waiting to see if I wanted to reply to the letter now or later. I wasn't going to let her wait there long.

I grabbed out a blank piece of parchment and wrote out my reply quickly so the owl could get flying. That was easier said than done, it took me forever to think of what to right and how to word it. I finally managed to jot something down.

_Dear …._

_So what kind of hints are you going to give me?_

_Could I maybe know what house you are in? Or maybe the initials of your name?_

_I am intrigued to know what it is that you like about me though._

_Sincerely Kim._

I folded up the parchment and handed it to the bird. She hooted happily before flying off again. If this was going to keep up I was definitely going to have to invest in some owl treats.

After that I couldn't think about studying again, all I had on my mind was trying to figure out who this mysterious person was and why they were interested in me.

I mean I wasn't anything special, I was no Fleur delacor, or Cho chang. I didn't really think I was anything spectacular, yet some one out there thought I was.

It was then that another idea dawned upon me. What if someone didn't have feelings for me, what if this was just someone's idea of a funny gag? I knew people could be cruel, but I didn't know who would want to be that cruel to me.

I packed up my things and headed back up to the common room, I was clearly done studying for the day. When I got back to the common room, a smiling Ginny met me at the portrait. I wasn't smiling though. I grabbed her by the arm and pulled up into the dormitory. I made sure the room was empty before I let loose on her.

"You told harry I like Ron!" I said angrily.

"Yes, but only because I thought if Ron liked you he wouldn't tell anyone but harry!" she defended herself.

"And what did he say?" I asked.

"Well he never got to tell me because Hermione walked in" she sighed.

I sighed along with her before following her back down to the common room. She was my best friend after all; I really couldn't stay mad at her for long.

The common room had filled slightly since we had gone for our little talk. Harry was sitting by the fire with Hermione, while Ron and lavender were attached at the lips over in a corner. Ginny and I decided that we would rather sit with little miss bossy pants over watching the snogging fest any day.

"I wish they would get a room" Ginny grumbled loudly.

We all nodded in agreement, but I did secretly wish it was me he was snogging. I sighed for like the hundredth time just thinking about it.

"They've been at it all day" Harry muttered, "I don't think she's let Ron get two words out".

We all laughed a little at Harry's remark. I doubted Lavender could have an intelligent conversation with anyone. She wasn't the brightest light bulb and she worshiped Professor Trelawney.

When the snogging fest got to much Harry, Hermione, Ginny and I walked down to the great hall for dinner. Ginny walked ahead talking to Hermione, while I stayed back a little so I could talk to Harry.

I pulled the new letter I had received from the secret person and showed it to Harry.

"I got this while I was out studying".

He read over the letter and smirked a little. It was almost like he knew something about it that I didn't and that made me feel a little weird.

"Did you reply?" he asked, with an eyebrow raised.

"Maybe I did, maybe I didn't" I stuck my tongue out at him.

He laughed and we kept walking. Ginny and Hermione waited at the door to see what was taking us so long.

Harry sat next to Hermione on one side of the table and I sat with Ginny on the other. We sat and talk about anything that didn't involve what was happening back in the common room.

I looked around the great hall and noticed Draco Malfoy whispering angrily to Crabbe and Goyle. He stood up and stormed out of the great hall with them on his tail. I turned back to Harry.

"What's got the ferret all worked up I wonder?" I said playing with my food.

"He's been acting weird since we got back to school", Ginny said before adding, "well weirder than usual".

"Harry thinks You Know Who has him working on a secret mission" Hermione said.

"I don't think it Hermione, I know he is and Snape is in on it" Harry defended himself.

He started telling us about his trip to Diagon Alley and seeing Malfoy and his mother sneaking around and then he told us about Draco talking to the Crabbe and Goyle about something important he had planned. It seemed Harry had been keeping tabs on Malfoy's suspicious activities.

"And Hermione said she saw the dark mark on his arm" he added.

"Harry I don't know what I saw" she sighed, "it could have been anything".

Harry gave up arguing with her, but I actually thought he might be on to something. After all it was known that the Malfoy's were big supporters of the Dark lord when he was last in power. Now that he was back maybe as an initiation, he was putting Draco to work.

I would definitely be talking to Harry about this theory later, when Hermione wasn't around of course.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Taking chances

The weeks began to roll together at Hogwarts and before any of us realized the Christmas break was approaching rather quickly. Ginny had invited me to stay with them for the break, which was all good with me. I was worried about my parents now that Voldemort was out there and because they were muggles, they were an easy target.

I figured they'd be safer if I wasn't there with them. I liked staying with the Weasley's. The Burrow always felt like a second home.

Of course Ron had invited Harry to stay there too, which had Ginny over the moon even though she was currently dating Dean Thomas. Dean was a nice guy, but I had noticed Ginny and Harry getting a little closer of the weeks and it was getting rather cute.

I was pleased to hear that Hermione had chosen to go home and spend some time with her parents this break. She had gone from annoying to irritating the last few weeks. She took ignoring Ron to a whole new level. It got to the point that the moment he entered to room, whether Lavender accompanied him or not, that she would just get up and leave mid sentence.

Ron and I were talking again, but it still made me highly uncomfortable when Lavender was around. She didn't like Ron talking to other girls, unless they were his sister.

We had a Hogsmeade visit coming up and we were all taking the opportunity to go and buy some Christmas presents. Even professor Slughorn was getting into the Christmas spirit, he was holding a special dinner party for some of his favorite students. Harry, Hermione, Ginny and I were all invited, but Ron missed out. He wasn't too pleased about it though.

The Friday before our Hogsmeade trip, we were sitting in the common room just talking. Harry had been telling Ron and me about the private lessons Harry had been having with Dumbledore. It was one of the rare moments we had where Ron wasn't attached to Lavender.

"Dumbledore wants me to get close to Slughorn" harry said.

He had explained to us earlier about a memory of Slughorn's that Dumbledore had shared with him. It was Tom Riddle having a conversation with him about Horcruxes. He had also told him that Slughorn had tampered with the memory. He believed that Slughorn was ashamed of what really went on in that conversation in question.

It seemed plausible; I mean I would want to admit giving Voldemort any kind of information about dark magic. Harry just didn't know how he was going to get Slughorn to cooperate.

Hermione, who had been off studying in the library, walked through the portal. She looked at us and then walked straight up to the dormitory.

"I still don't know what I did wrong" Ron sighed.

"Some times I don't think Hermione needs a reason to be annoyed at you" I joked.

The boys laughed slightly, it was true though it seemed if she could be angry at you she would. No matter what the reason was.

We decided it was getting late so it was off to be we went. I got changed into my pajamas and sat down on my bed. The other girls seemed to be sleeping already. There was a tapping at the window, so I got up to have a look.

Rosey, the owl sat on the window sill with a letter tied to her leg. This had to be the reply to my letter I had sent weeks before. I was beginning to get worried that it had been a joke and this person really wasn't real.

I took the note and sat back down on the bed to read it.

_Dear Kim_

_Please forgive me for my delay, but things have been busy._

_I would love to tell you my initials or what house I am in, but I am afraid that would be giving away too much._

_Instead I will tell you that I am a sixth year student much like yourself._

_You asked what it is I liked about you and well there are many things. Your laugh in enchanting, you are smart and quick witted and you've never been afraid to speak your mind._

_They are just some of the things that have captured my eye._

_Signed …_

I read over the letter again and again. Who ever this was seemed to be genuine and now I knew they were in my year so that narrowed it down a bit. It made me blush quite a bit reading the things that he like about me.

I never considered my laugh enchanting especially when I laughed so hard I would sometimes let out a little snort. I definitely didn't think that I was smart either, especially with people like Hermione in our year. I supposed that I tried to speak my mind, but that would usually get me into to trouble with the teachers.

I pulled out some parchment and thought about what I would say. Even though I knew what year he was on, I still didn't know much about him.

_My dear friend ….._

_I still don't have a name to call you._

_I was beginning to think you weren't real when I didn't get a reply straight away._

_Your hint has narrowed your identity down slightly, but there are still many people you could be, perhaps I could get another hint?_

_I do have a question though, how do I know that these letters aren't some kind of joke?_

_Sincerely Kim_

I put the letter under my pillow; I would post it before we left for Hogsmeade. I felt better finally mentioning my fears of being tricked by these letters. It maybe real that there was someone out there that like me, but then there were some nasty people out there that wouldn't care about hurting my feelings either.

Ginny shook me awake the next morning. She was already dressed and ready to go to Hogsmeade. I groaned, but got up anyway. I knew she wouldn't let me go back to sleep, so I wasn't going to argue. I got dressed and together we walked down to breakfast. We talked about what we were getting everyone for Christmas. I was tossing up on whether I was going to get Hermione something this year. I had always gotten her something small each year just to be polite. I figured it wouldn't hurt me if I got her something, I supposed I'd get her a new quill set or something.

Ginny had a list already set up of what she was going to get everyone, but she wouldn't let me see it. She was under the impression that I would look at what she was getting me and well she was right.

Ginny was going to be the hardest for me to buy for; after all she was my best friend. I wanted to get her a new broom, but I didn't know how I was going to buy it with out her knowing.

We ate breakfast and walked up to the owlery so I could post out the letter to the mysterious person. I found Rosey perched next to Pig. He hooted excitedly when we walked in.

"Hi Pig" I said as I petted him.

I then petted Rosey and gave her the letter. I was planning on buying some owl treats while we were out. Rosey flew out the window and Ginny and I walked back down to the front entrance and waited by the big doors for the others so we could leave.

Harry, Ron and Hermione met us not long after that. It was one the rare times we had been able to spend time with Ron without Lavender attached to him. Ginny asked him where she was, but he just changed the subject.

We started walking down the path way when Harry noticed Professor Slughorn walking just ahead of us. It seemed he was heading to the Three Broom Sticks.

"Anyone fancy a butter beer?" Harry asked.

We followed Slughorn into the Three Broom Sticks and found a table in clear view of where he was. Harry ordered us all a butter beer and we sat and waited.

Ginny spotted Dean Thomas sitting in the corner so she said goodbye and made her way over to her boyfriend. I felt both Harry and Ron stiffen slightly.

At least now I didn't have to worry about Ginny seeing what I was getting her for Christmas now. Harry suddenly stood up; it made me jump a little. I hadn't expected him to move as fast as he did.

"Hello professor" he greeted Professor Slughorn.

"Harry! What a pleasant surprise" he smiled back.

We sat back and listened to them chat about school and potions. Slughorn reminded him about the party before the holiday break.

"I look forward to seeing you there Mr. Potter" he smiled at Harry then turned to Hermione and I, "you both of you girls as well"

"We're looking forward to it sir" i told him.

"Well it was lovely talking to you" he said his goodbyes.

"Good to see you Weatherby" he added talking to Ron.

Slughorn then proceeded to walk out the door and do his own thing. Ron huffed at the fact that Slughorn still didn't know his name yet.

We finished our drinks and left as well. I was keen to get this shopping done. We stopped off at the Quidditch store first so I could get Ginny, Harry and Ron's Christmas presents. I made Harry and Ron wait outside while I purchased their gifts.

I bought Ron a Chuddley Cannon's supporters shirts and I had already got him a new Wizard's chess set since his old one got ruined over the summer. I bought Harry some new quidditch gloves and a book of the greatest Quidditch matches ever played. Once the boys were out of the way I called Harry and Ron back into the store to help me pick out a broom for Ginny. We walked out with a firebolt just like Harry's. It may have been three years since Harry first got his, but it was still the best broom on the market at the moment.

After that we headed to Honeydukes. I picked up everyone some Bertie Botts every flavor beans to put in with their presents. We stopped off at Zonko's Joke shop and I grabbed some of their practical joke books. I was going to give them to Fred and George; hopefully they could get some ideas for their own joke creations.

The last stop I picked up a nice quill set and colour changing inks for Hermione, for Mrs. Weasley I got her the new recipe book from her favorite cooking witch and for Mr. Weasley I got my dad to send me some Muggle items that I thought he would find fascinating.

Once we had finished our shopping we walked back up to the castle. Katie Bell and one of her friends were walking in front of us. They were talking loudly about something, almost arguing about it.

Before we could say a word, there was a scream. We watched helplessly as Katie was thrown across the ground backwards and forwards and then levitated into the air before falling back to the ground.

"I told her not to touch it!" her friend cried.

Hagrid came running over and picked Katie up of the ground. Harry went over to look at what she had been carrying.

"Don't touch that" Hagrid ordered.

Hagrid walked Katie to the hospital wing, while we were sent to Professor Magonagall's office. She groaned and rolled her eyes the moment she saw us.

"Why is it when ever something bad happens, you four are there?" she asked.

"Bad timing?" I suggested.

She asked us what we had seen, before sending us up to the common room and ordering that we stay out of trouble. Turned out that Katie had found a package in the girl's bathroom at the Three Broom Sticks and was meant to deliver it to Professor Dumbledore. The package contained a necklace that had been cursed.

We all had our theories about what was going on, but the one thing they all had in common was it had something to do with You know who.

We spent the remainder of the afternoon in the Gryffindor common room. I managed to hide all of the presents I had bought in my trunk. I was excited about Christmas this year, there were a lot of dark things happening around at the moment and the holidays brought some light in to that darkness.

Our pleasant afternoon of course had to some to an end. With the return of the rest of the students from Hogsmeade brought back an annoyance in our lives.

"Won won!" Lavender cried as she came through the portal.

We all groaned internally, even Ron to our surprise. She plunked herself down on Ron's lap and threw her arms around his neck. Hermione immediately excused herself, mumbling something about a Muggle studies essay she had to finish.

Harry and I had also seen enough. I challenged him to a game of exploding snap, which he happily agreed to. He gave Ron an apologetic look before joining me at another table.

We played three founds of snap and then decided it was time for bed. I said good night to Harry and walked back up the stairs to my dormitory. I got changed and then got comfortable under the covers.

I couldn't wait for the holidays, when we could finally escape Lavenders unhealthy obsession for Ron.

It was as if Time was on my side, because the next week went by unbelievably fast. Before we knew it, it was the night of Slughorn's party.

I was waiting for Ginny and Harry in the common room. I sat on the lounge in a pale blue dress that my mum had sent me. I had my hair pulled to the side and curled lightly. Hermione was sitting across from me in a cute pink party dress that frilled slightly at the bottom. She had her hair pulled back and up. She had invited Cormack to the party as her date. She had guts; everyone knew that Cormack was a sleaze.

I had chosen not to invite anyone. If I could go with the guy I liked then I didn't see a point inviting anyone else. Harry had invited Luna, I thought it was cute. As strange as Luna was, it didn't stop her from being likeable.

There was a tapping sound at the window. Both Hermione and I looked over. I was excited to see Rosey perched on the window sill. I hurried over to let her in. she dropped the letter in front of me and hooted. I picked up the letter before running up the stairs and back down with a treat for her.

Once she had flown off again did I open and read the letter.

_Dear Kim_

_I am sorry that you think that my letters could be some kind of sick joke. I am not that kind of person and I would never do that to you._

_I have been trying all week to think of a hint for you, that won't give away my identity so easily._

_So my next hint is that I am not a Slytherin or a hufflepuff._

_It is the holidays soon, do you have anything planned?_

_I'm heading home to be with my family this year._

_Speak with you soon_

_Signed …._

I looked over the letter again. So he wasn't in Slytherin or Hufflepuff and that was a relief. It meant that my secret admirer wasn't Draco or any of his disgusting friends.

Hermione looked over at me with a confused look on her face. I put the letter into my purse before shrugging.

"It's a letter from my mum letting me know that it's ok that I spend the holidays at the burrow" I lied.

She simply nodded and turned back to the stair cases. Just as she did, Harry appeared at the bottom of them. He explained at Ginny had left early and we were meeting Luna there, so we walked down together.

The party was a little bit crazy. Slughorn had some of the students he didn't consider special serving drinks and walking around with appetizers. To me it was a little degrading, but Neville in particular thought he was being included.

Ginny was already there when we arrived, she was talking to some of the other students with Dean's arm wrapped around her shoulders. Hermione walked over to greet Cormack, while Harry, Luna and I found a place out away from the crowd.

It wasn't long before Hermione was back trying to hide from Cormack. I did feel sorry for her; she hadn't been with him more than five minutes before he was trying to put the moves on her.

When she saw him coming to look for her, she snuck away again, this time going to hide in the bathroom.

Professor Snape came over wanting to speak with Harry. They talked momentarily before they were interrupted. Filch came barging into the room holding Malfoy by the collar.

"Excuse me Professor, but I found this student lurking in the hallway, he says he was invited" filch spoke to Slughorn.

"Ok, ok I was crashing" Draco admitted.

"Its ok Argus, I'll escort Mr. Malfoy back to his dormitory" Snape grabbed hold of Malfoy and dragged him out of the room.

I turned and looked over at Harry; he had the same confused look on his face as I had on mine.

"Well that was tonight's entertainment" I giggled.

Harry Laughed along with me. Once Hermione had managed to lose Cormack again, we took the opportunity to leave the party and head back to the common room.

Ginny was already back in the common room; she and Dean were in the corner making out again. I shook my head, she was my best friend, but sometimes I didn't understand her.

The next day Harry, Ron, Ginny and I were on the train on our way to the Burrow. We had found a compartment at the end of the train away from the noise of the other students.

We were talking happily about the holidays, when out of the corner of my eye I could see something standing on the other side of the door. We all turned to see Lavender looking at Ron lovingly. She breathed onto the glass in the door causing it to fog up. She then drew a love heart and inside of it wrote the words 'Lavender loves Ron' before sighing and walking away.

Ginny and I cracked up laughing. I had to hold my side when it started hurting from laughter.

"Shut up you too" Ron said angrily.

"But it's so funny", Ginny said between laughs.

"She's mental, honestly all she wants to do is snog me!" he complained, "look how chapped my lips are"

He pointed at his lips to show us what he meant. We left him alone after that. It was a long train ride back to platform 9 and ¾. We spent our time playing wizard's chess and exploding snap. I won a couple of games of snap, but no one beat Ron at chess.

Eventually we got bored of the games. Ginny started reading one of her books, while I took a nap. I didn't know why I was so tired for though. I was still asleep when the train arrived at the station. Harry and Ginny took our trunks out, while Ron stayed back to wake me up. He didn't just wake me up though, he tickled me awake. I wriggled to get away from him, while unable to stop laughing.

"What the hell, Ron!" I punched his arm.

"We're here" he laughed at my reaction.

The two of us left the compartment in search of Harry and Ginny. We found them out on the platform waiting for us. Both of them snickered when they saw us coming. I shot them a look and they both turned away.

The Weasley's met us at the station when we arrived. We were all hugged tightly by Mrs. Weasley. We didn't take the car to the burrow, this time we apparated there.

The burrow was decorated with all kinds of Christmas decorations. There was tinsel hung around the windows and a beautiful Christmas tree in the living area. It was easy to see that Mrs. Weasley had put in a lot of effort.

We all put our things in our rooms and got ready for dinner. Mrs. Weasley had cooked up a big dinner for our home coming. By the end of it we were all stuffed. We walked up to Ron's room to hang out for a little while. I sat at the top end of Harry's bed and Harry and Ron sat on Ron's bed. Ginny went to have a shower while we talked.

"So Christmas tomorrow, are you excited?" I asked the boys.

"Well yeah, it's Christmas" Harry chuckled.

"So what did you buy me?" Ron joked punching Harry.

"Awe man I forgot about you" he laughed.

"Me too, sorry Ron" I played along.

"Really funny you two" Ron said throwing a pillow at me.

We kept going into the night. Eventually Mrs. Weasley told us to go to bed. I said goodnight to the boys and went into Ginny's room and got ready for bed.

I thought I would be too excited to sleep, but as soon as my head hit the pillow I was out like a light.

Ginny woke me early the next morning. She was bouncing up and down on the bed until I got up. The two of us ran down the stairs to the living room. The boys were already down there, we were just waiting on the twins. After one more call from Mrs. Weasley, the twins apparated into the room.

I gave everyone their presents and watched as they opened them, but I left Ginny for last. I handed Ginny her present and she screamed excitedly when she saw what it was.

"Do you like it?" I asked her.

"Oh my gosh! I love it" she hugged me tightly.

"Good, I was a little worried you'd hate it" I joked.

She hit me on the arm, but never took her eyes off the broom. I watched everyone else open the rest of their presents before I got to mine.

Ginny gave me a silver charm bracelet that had charms for all the school houses and I charm to represent all our friends. There was a little lightening bolt for Harry, a broom for Ginny, a chess piece for Ron and a book for Hermione. I loved it. I hugged Ginny and thanked her.

From Harry and Ron a got some chocolate frogs and some more charms for my bracelet. Apparently they had helped Ginny pick it out so they already knew what I was getting. I got my traditional sweater from Mr. and Mrs. Weasley in my favorite blue and from Fred and George I got a new copy of my favorite Muggle children's book. My old one had been confiscated by Filch in the first year.

"Wow guys, thank you so much", I hugged everyone.

We took our presents up stairs before coming back down to eat. Once we had eaten, Ginny and I ran up stairs to get her broom so she could try it out.

We spent the afternoon playing two on two quidditch, each one of us taking turns being the ref. we had so much fun. When it started getting dark we made our way inside to help Mrs. Weasley get ready for dinner. We were expecting Professor Lupin and Tonks over to eat, but we didn't know what time they would be arriving.

When Mrs. Weasley was done with our help she sent us upstairs to wash up. We all ended up in Ron's room again arguing about who won the most games of Quidditch.

"I'm positive that Fred never lost a game" I told them.

"No he lost the game when Ron hit that tree" Harry corrected.

"That was George on Ron's team in that game" Ginny pointed out.

"Well then Fred wins" we concluded.

It wasn't long before Mrs. Weasley called us down for Dinner. Ginny challenged Harry to see who would get there first, leaving me walking with Ron.

He stopped suddenly about half way down the stairs and I walked straight into the back of him. I looked up to see him staring at something above him. It was mistletoe.

Ron turned around and looked me in the eyes, his cheeks a deep shade of red. I watched as he slowly leaned in closer and closer until I could feel his breath on my face. I found myself closing the distance between us until our lips touched.

At first his kiss was cautious, like he wasn't sure if it was alright, but once he found that I was kissing him back the caution died away.

His lips were soft and a little dry from the cold wind outside. I never thought I would see the day that I would be kissing the guy that I had like for so many years and yet here I was.

I don't know how long we were standing there like that, but we only stopped after hearing a wolf whistle from behind us. We had been busted by the twins.

"Go Ronnykins" George clapped Ron on the back.

"Took you long enough little brother" Fred added.

"So does that mean you don't have a girlfriend?" One of them asked.

A horrible feeling could be felt in the pit of my stomach. I had completely forgotten about Lavender. She and Ron were still going out and I had just kissed him.

While the boys were arguing I slipped away from them and went down stairs. I felt like the most terrible person in the world. I could I have kissed someone already in a relationship.

I knew things were going to get very weird around here now.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

When things don't go the way you plan

When I got down stairs I greeted Lupin and Tonks briefly before taking a seat at the table between Ginny and Mrs. Weasley. I didn't even look up when Ron and the twins entered the room. They were still arguing between themselves.

Mrs. Weasley shushed them and told them to sit down. They did as they were told. Mrs. Weasley served dinner and everyone began to eat.

I made sure I focused on my food and only made conversation with Ginny and Harry. I left no room for either of the twins or Ron to bring up what had happened earlier in the hallway. Its not that I hadn't enjoyed the kiss, it just felt wrong knowing Ron still had a girlfriend.

Ginny kept giving concerned glances; I knew that she was aware that something was up with me. She always knew when something wasn't right. I felt her nudge me in the side and I looked up. Everyone at the table was looking at me strangely.

"Tonk's just asked you something" Ginny whispered.

"Sorry I was off in my own little world, what did you say?" I asked tonks.

"Oh, I was just wondering how your family is" she repeated.

"Oh of course, they are good" I told her, "still clueless about all the you know who stuff and that's the way I want to keep it".

"I can understand that" she replied.

"It is safer for them not to know" Lupin agreed.

"How about we talk about happier, after all it is Christmas" Mrs. Weasley cut in.

We all dropped the conversation after that and listened as the others talked about other things. Of course with the boys around the conversation always ended up on quidditch.

After dinner we moved into the lounge room. Harry told Lupin, Tonks and Mr. Weasley about his theory that Malfoy was working on something for you know who, but Lupin shut him down.

The conversation ended and the adults left leaving me and Harry sitting in our thoughts. Ginny walked in with a big plate with dessert pies. She offered me one, but I declined I was still full from dinner.

She at down next to Harry and picked up a pie and offered it to him. She lifted the pie up to his mouth.

"Open wide" she giggled.

He looked at her curiously. It was no secret to me that Harry and Ginny had a crush on each other.

"I won't bite" she smiled.

He took a bite from the pie and smiled. It was a really cute moment between them. I hoped that they would realize how each other felt. I was glad Ginny was opening up about it though.

Ron walked in causing Ginny and Harry to separate from each other. Ron sat in between Harry and Ginny and picked up a pie for himself. I stood up and went to walk away, I didn't want Ron to bring up the nights earlier incident, but before I could take a step there was a loud bang.

The others jumped to their feet and we all ran for the door to see what was happening. There was a great ring of fire circling the house. Before we could see anyone, we heard her evil laugh. It only took one sentence to send Harry running off after Bellatrix Lestrange.

"I killed Sirius Black!"She cackled loudly.

We could see Bellatrix and Fenrir Greyback standing in the reeds over towards the pond on the Weasley's property. Harry took off through the flames and into the reeds after her and before we could stop her Ginny ran off after him.

"Ginny!" Cried Mrs. Weasley.

I went to chase after my best friend, but Ron grabbed my arm and held me back. Mr. Weasley, tonks and Lupin took off after them. We could hear curses being thrown all over the place.

"Ron let me go, I have to help!" I squirmed to get out of his grip.

"I can't" he sighed, "you could get hurt".

I stood there helplessly only hearing the commotion that was happening. The twins hugged their worrying mother. We heard screaming; I automatically thought the worst and hugged Ron tightly around the waist.

There was a second scream and two black figures shot into the air and disappeared. An eerie silence fell over the Burrow as the flames died away. We waited for anything, just so we could know that they were alright.

There was a rustling sound and then one by one they emerged from the reeds. I let go of Ron and ran over hugging both Ginny and Harry tightly.

"What were you thinking?" I said punching Harry in the arm.

He just shrugged; he sure knew how to make you worry. Mrs. Weasley scaled the both of them for their carelessness. Tonks and Lupin decided they would stay until we went back to school incase anything like this happened again. Neither of Ron and Ginny's parents disagreed.

We were ushered up stairs and got ready for bed. None of us was going to find sleep easy.

After we had changed into our pajamas, Ginny and I sat on her bed and talked for a little while. I told her about the mistletoe kiss from earlier.

"Gin I've liked him for so long and my chance finally comes and He has a girlfriend", I sighed.

"I know the feeling" she agreed, "my brother isn't the brightest, but I think he really likes you"

Her words made me feel a little better, but deep down inside I just wasn't sure what that kiss meant.

"What if he just did it because that's what you do with mistletoe?" I suggested.

"No Ron's never been one to do things like that" she shook her head.

I lay back down on the bed and pulled a pillow over my face.

"I just don't know what to do" I groaned.

She could help me; she didn't know what I should do either. We sat silently listening as the others slowly went to bed. I wanted to talk to Harry about it, I though maybe Ron might have said something to him about the whole thing and maybe he could give me some advice on what to do about it.

There was no way I was going to be able to sleep with all of this on my mind. I lay on my bed and listened to Ginny sleeping. When I could take just lying there anymore I got up and walked over to Ron's room. I quietly opened the door and stuck my head in. I could hear Ron snoring so I knew he was asleep.

"Harry?" I whispered, hoping he was still awake.

"Yeah?" he whispered back.

I was thankful that he was still awake. I really wanted to talk to him even if it scared me just a little.

"Can I talk to you for a minute?" I asked.

I heard him get up and walk over to the door. We walked silently down stairs making very sure we didn't step on any squeaky floor boards on the way down. We sat down in the living room and listened for any movement before we talked.

"Ok I'm sure Ron has talked to you about what happened between us earlier tonight".

Harry shook his head and gave me a confused look. Maybe I was wrong about Ron telling him.

"He hasn't mentioned anything about the mistletoe?" I asked.

"No" he replied, "wait did he kiss you?"

I nodded and Harry's face lit up. Mine didn't though and so he looked at me confused again.

"Harry, he still has a girlfriend remember" I reminded him.

I explained to him what happened and that I thought Ron would have talked to him about it. He told me that Ron hadn't mentioned anything about it.

He told me what Ron had told him about Lavender and not liking her all that much any more, but that didn't make me feel better. Now if they broke up I'd feel like it was my fault.

This was turning out to be more confusing than helpful. When the talking was over, Harry yawned and excused himself so he could go back to bed. I stayed on the couch, just thinking about everything.

I sat there watching the clock tick away. At 2:15am I heard a creak coming from somewhere up stairs. I watched as a figure appeared at the bottom of the stairs and it was the one person I didn't want to be alone with. Ron rubbed the sleep out of his eyes and looked over at me.

"I couldn't sleep", I explained.

"Why what's up?" he asked between yawns.

"A lot on my mind I guess".

He sat down next to me and asked if I wanted to talk about it, which I swiftly replied no to.

"Wait does this have something to do with what happened before?" he asked, his ears turning as red as his hair.

"Ron, I just don't know how I am supposed to take it" I explained.

"It was a kiss, which would usually mean that I cared for you" he tried explaining but only making him blush further.

"Ok, but what about Lavender?" I asked.

"What about her?" he replied bluntly.

"Well she is your girlfriend", I said a little harshly.

He just shrugged it off. Harry was right; he really didn't seem to care too much for her anymore.

"Well don't you think it might hurt her a little knowing you kissed someone else?" I pressed on.

"It was just a kiss" he said.

That hurt a little bit. He went from saying that a kiss meant he cared to saying it was just a kiss and it didn't matter. I stood up angrily and went to walk upstairs, but not before turning around to him.

"Well it wasn't just a kiss to me" I snapped at him.

I didn't wait of a reply; I just stormed up the stairs and closed the door behind me when I got to Ginny's room. She sat up on her bed when she heard me come in.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

"Your brother is an insensitive git!" I told her angrily.

"What did he do now?"

I told her about the conversation and his exact words about Lavender and about the kiss. Even she wasn't pleased with what he had said.

"He is so thick sometimes", she groaned.

We sat quietly, both of us too annoyed to sleep. We heard a knock on the door, but stayed quiet hoping they would go away.

"Kim, can we talk please?" Ron asked from behind the door.

"Just sod off Ron", Ginny said angrily.

He stood there for a moment, before we heard his footsteps going back to him room. It was going to be very awkward when everyone got up in the morning.

When morning did come, Ginny and I got up and helped Mrs Weasley with breakfast. When Harry and Ron came down, I made any excuse to talk to someone else about anything. I wasn't going to get caught alone with Ron again, but he didn't give up.

He waited for me to be alone, but I never was I made sure of it. If I wasn't with Ginny I made sure I was with Harry or one of the twins.

We spent the rest of the holidays like this, him trying to talk to me and me avoiding him at every turn. Even on the train ride back to school, we may have been in the same compartment, but I would rather talk to Hermione over Ron.

Hermione thanked me for the Christmas gift I had bought her; she hadn't expected it now that we were older. Luna joined us while when we were about half way there. She told us about how she helped her father with his Quibbler issues.

Lavender also gave our compartment a visit. She pulled Ron out into the corridor and gave him his Christmas present. We all watched him open the present. Lavender jumped up and down excitedly.

"Do you like it?" she asked.

He opened up the box and pulled out a silver necklace. On the bottom of the necklace were the words 'won won'. She put it around his neck and giggled.

"Its great" he forced out a smile.

That was all it too and the compartment filled with uncontrollable laughter. Even Hermione was holding her sides. Ron glared angrily at all of us, but it only made us laugh harder.

Ron stormed off down the corridor with Lavender following closely behind. We didn't see him again until we arrived at the station at Hogsmeade. By then our fits of laughter had finished. We got into a carriage all together. I noticed Ron had since removed the necklace that Lavender had given him. It was probably tucked away deep into his pocket.

When we got back to the castle, we lugged our stuff back up to our dormitories. I placed my trunk back at the end of my bed and started to unpack my school things.

I pulled out my school robes and a piece of paper fell on the floor. It was the letter I had received just before we went on holidays. I sat down on the bed and read over it.

Maybe I would give this guy a go, now that things didn't seem like they were going to work with Ron. I pulled out some parchment and wrote down a reply.

_Hey ….._

_How was your holiday? Did you have a good time at home?_

_Mine didn't go so well, I kind of had a fight with a close friend of mine._

_So I was wondering if maybe you would want to meet up with me?_

_Look forward to hearing from you_

_Sincerely Kim._

I folded the letter up and put it into my pocket. I walked down to the common room to look for Ginny. I found her sitting and talking to Harry, Hermione and Ron. Ron stood up when he saw me, but I was already one step ahead of him.

"Hey Ginny come to the owlery with me" I said and she nodded.

Before Ron could even open his mouth to say anything, we were already out the portal. It hurt that I wasn't talking to him, he was one of my closest friends after all, but what he had said really hurt me.

"So do you think you'll ever talk to Ron again?" Ginny asked as we walked.

"Maybe one day" I shrugged.

When we got to the owlery I went in search of Rosey. I found her and gave her a pat on the head and an owl treat.

"You know the drill" I smiled at her and she hooted happily.

I tied the letter to her leg and watched her fly off. I thought about following her as she flew around the castle to see what common room she went to, but then I thought that would ruin the mystery. Ginny and I then slowly walked back to the common room. We weren't looking forward to going back to classes.

When we got back to the common room, Ron had gone to bed leaving Harry and Hermione alone by the fire. I said good night to them and went up to bed.

In the morning I woke up to a tapping at the window. I stood up and walked over trying not to wake anyone up.

Rosey was sitting on the window sill waiting for me to let her in. she flew in the window and dropped a letter on my bed and then proceeded to wait for her treat. I gave her the treat and opened the letter.

_Dear Kim_

_I'm sorry to hear about your friend._

_My holiday wasn't the greatest either._

_I would definitely like to meet up with you, how about the astronomy tower tomorrow night around 7pm?_

_Signed …_

I figured this was my chance so I grabbed my parchment and hurriedly wrote a reply to give to Rosey.

_Dear …._

_It's a date_

_I'll see you at 7pm_

_Sincerely Kim_

I wrapped the note around Rosey's leg and she was off again. I got dressed and walked down to the common room.

Ron was sitting at one of the tables starring out at the lake. I tried to walk past him with out him noticing, but luck was not on my side.

"Kim, wait" he called after me.

Part of me wanted to keep walking, to run out the portal even, but I didn't I turned around and looked straight into the sadness in his eyes.

"Can we talk?" he asked.

I sighed and nodded. I didn't know why I was giving in, but there was something about him that made my anger disappear. He motioned me to sit, but I didn't move. So he continued anyway.

"Look I'm sorry about what happened at Christmas, I never meant to hurt your feelings" he ran his fingers through his hair.

I wanted to yell at him, I wanted to make him feel as bad as he made me. I couldn't though, I just couldn't do it.

"Forget about it, just forget it ever happened", I said before finding my feet and walking out the portal.

I could have sworn I heard him say 'I can't', but they might have just been wishful thinking. Things got a little better between us, but they were still awkward.

We went to classes like robots; every class seemed to just roll into one. As did the works we were doing. Snape's classes were becoming even more unbearable.

I was extremely nervous when it came time for me to go and meet my mysterious friend. I left dinner early so I could get Harry's invisibility cloak. He was letting me borrow it, but only for the night. It wasn't like he was going to need it; he was still trying to figure out a way to get closer to professor Slughorn.

When it was almost seven, I made my way up to the astronomy tower under the cloak. I walked past Ginny and Hermione who were on their way back to the common room.

When I got to the astronomy tower I sat down at one of the tables, but stayed under the invisibility cloak. I waited for the person to show himself. I waited until 10pm, but he didn't show. I wasn't waiting any longer so I headed back to the common room. I was angry not at the guy, but at myself for letting myself get tricked.

When I was getting closer to the Fat lady, I notice Harry walking just ahead of me. I ran over and grabbed his shoulders making sure I scared him just a little.

"Geez Kim, scare me why don't you", he laughed when he realized it was me.

"That was the idea" I joked.

"Yeah, how was your meeting?" he asked.

"The guy didn't show", I told him, "so I'm glad I borrowed your cloak".

"Wow that sucks, he better have a good reason" he said sounding like e new more.

"Anyway, why are you out this late?" I asked him.

"Well Ron ate some chocolates off my bed that Romilda Vane had given me for Christmas, but he didn't know they had a love potion in them", he explained.

"Sounds like Ron" I laughed.

"So I took him to Slughorn who fixed him right up, but he offered us a drink and Ron being Ron drank his down before we got a chance. The drink was poisoned and intended for Professor Dumbledore" he went on.

"Oh my gosh! Is Ron ok?" I was shocked.

As much as Ron had hurt me over the break, no one deserved to be hurt like this. No one deserved to be poisoned.

"He's in the hospital wing; they want to keep him there over night".

I wrapped my arms around my body and hugged myself tightly. Harry places a hand on my shoulder to comfort me.

"When can we go see him?" I asked.

"Madam Pomfrey doesn't want anyone there tonight, but we can go before class tomorrow if you like" he suggested.

I nodded my head, I felt horrible for Ron. As much as he had hurt me with what he said, I still cared about him so much.

Harry and I walked back to the common room together. Hermione and Ginny were waiting for us and when they didn't see Ron they both got worried looks on their faces.

Harry told them the same thing he told me about what happened. Ginny agreed with me about eating the chocolates that weren't his definitely something that Ron would do. We all agreed that we would go and visit him in the morning after breakfast.

Just as we were about to go to bed, something occurred to me. Lavender had no idea what had happened to Ron and she was bound to notice his absence.

"I got dibbs on not telling Lavender about this" I said to the others.

"I second that" Ginny jumped in after me.

Harry looked at Hermione before sighing loudly and volunteered to tell her. He didn't look like he was going to enjoy it, but he knew Hermione would talk to Lavender.

Hermione and I walked up to our dormitory together. We said good night and made our way to our own beds. I lay down on mine and began writing a very hurt letter to the boy that stood me up.

_You insensitive pig_

_I knew this was too good to be true_

_Thank you very much for standing me up tonight, I hope it made you very happy._

_I don't know what kind of game you are playing, but I have had enough._

_Do Not message me again!_

I placed the letter in the pocket of my school robes, I was going to send that before breakfast and before going to see Ron.

I could sleep as tired as I was. All I could think about was how terrible my luck was going when it came to boys. First Ron over the break and now this poor excuse for a student, things were just not going my way.

When I woke the next morning I found Harry writing a letter at one of the tables. i walked over and sat down with him.

"what ya writing?" I asked him curiously.

"well since I'm the one that has to tell Lavender about Ron I figured I'd mail her since I really don't want all her questions" he explained.

It made sense; Lavender was a bit of a fruit loop which was why Ginny and I wanted nothing to do with her.

"I'm headed up to the owlery now if you wanna walk with me?" I suggested.

He nodded and the two of us walked their together. I found Rosey while Harry searched for Hedwig. When our letters had been sent, we walked back down to breakfast.

Ginny and Hermione met us there. We ate our food and as soon as we saw the mail arrived we left and hurried up to the hospital wing. When we got there Professor Dumbledore was already waiting for us. He wished to speak with Harry in private about the events of the night before.

I knew Harry was going to tell Dumbledore about his theory about Draco, but I wasn't sure how seriously Dumbledore was going to take it.

Ginny, Hermione and I sat down beside Ron's bed. He was asleep snoring slightly, but he was alive and that's all that mattered at the moment.

We sat with Ron for a while before class. Our silence made it easy to hear the running footsteps we knew we would be hearing soon.

"where is he? Where is my Won Won?" Lavender cried dramatically as she ran through the doors.

Ginny and I stood up and moved to the end of the bed where Madam Pomfrey was standing. Lavender shot Hermione an evil glare.

"what's she doing here?" she demanded.

"I could ask you the same thing" Hermione snapped.

"I happen to be his girlfriend" Lavender shot in her matter of fact voice.

"well I happen to be his friend" Hermione defended.

"don't make me laugh, you haven't spoken to him in weeks" she noted.

Ginny and I just sat back and watched. Harry joined us rolling his eyes when he saw Lavender had arrived. He waited for her to go off at him for not telling her in person, but Ron began to stir.

"see he sense my presence" she said rushing to his side, "I'm here Won Won".

Ginny made a slight choking noise and it made me giggle a little. Ron tossed a little.

"her…ermi…..nie" he mumbled in his sleep.

Lavender looked hurt before slowly backing away and leaving the hospital wing. I guessed I was right all along about Ron having a crush on Hermione. That was until his mumbling continued.

"Hermione… tell her…. I'm sor…..sorry" he managed before his snoring began again.

I wondered who he was sorry to; I looked at Hermione who was as confused as the rest of us.

Professor Dumbledore excused us from our first class giving us all letters to be excused, but Madam Pomfrey insisted that Ron needed his rest and we weren't allowed back until that evening. She ushered us out of the hospital wing and sent us on our way.

W walked slowly back to the common room together. I was happy that we had been excused from Potions; I didn't think I would be able to concentrate and that could be costly.

"so what did Dumbledore ask?" Hermione asked Harry.

"just wanted to know what exactly happened and if I had gotten anywhere with Slughorn" he explained.

"looks like its going to be harder to get him to talk now" I said and they both nodded.

I wasn't sure what was going to happen now, things were getting way out of hand and none of us knew when that was going to stop.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Some things never change

After dinner we went and visited Ron again. He was awake this time and was obviously feeling better. We could tell by the amount of food he was shoveling into his mouth.

Relief washed over us knowing that he was alright. We sat down around him and broke him the news about Lavender. He didn't seem at all disappointed at the news. In fact his mood seemed to brighten after that.

We had seen Lavender at dinner glaring at her food. Her eyes were puffy from crying. Parvati Patil had told Hermione that Lavender had spent the morning crying and throwing things around the dormitory. She clearly wasn't taking this very well and her out burst was starting to scare me a little. She had sent Harry a letter saying that clearly Ron did not feel for her the way he did for "someone else" and that it wouldn't work.

When it was getting late, Madam Pomfrey kicked us out. The good thing was Ron would be dismissed in the morning. He was disappointed that he couldn't get more time off school. We knew things were definitely going to be very awkward around the common room now.

Ron met us at breakfast the next morning. He was already stuffing his face when we got there. Ginny and I sat on one side of the table while Harry and Hermione sat either side of Ron. Lavender glared angrily when she saw us and stormed past to the other end of the table.

"Remind me again how we broke up" Ron said to Harry.

Ginny and I just laughed, we knew Ron had no idea about what he had said in his sleep and we weren't going to tell him. Harry thought it would be better that way.

The mail arrived and I wasn't overly happy when I saw Rosey flying towards me. I groaned when she dropped the letter into my breakfast.

"What is it?" Ginny asked.

"An unwanted letter from someone unknown" I told her.

"Are you going to read it?" she asked.

"Probably not" I grumbled.

I picked it up and shoved it in my pocket with out even glancing at what was written on it. When we were had eaten we all walked together to our classes, saying goodbye to Ginny on the way.

Our herbology class had been cancelled when one of the first year classes had released something into the room as a prank. It had all gone terribly wrong. Professor Sprout had gone off at Ron because the prank had originated at the Twin's store.

Hermione being Hermione insisted that we study for our upcoming exams. We all agreed we had been slacking off on our studying over the holidays and probably should have been taking out studying more seriously. I walked up to my dormitory to get some of my books. I sat down on the bed and pulled the letter out of my pocket.

I fought internally with myself about whether I should read it or just throw it in the bin. I opened the letter and the part of me that wanted to read it won.

_Dear Kim_

_I am not writing to give you excuses._

_I am writing to ask you to forgive me_

_Unforeseeable circumstances stopped me from getting to see you the other night._

_The meeting was not and never was a joke and I wanted to be there_

_Sorry could not explain how terrible I feel about all of this_

_I don't expect you to reply, I understand how you must feel._

_So I will now leave you alone._

I scrunched the letter up and threw it into the bin beside my bed angrily. Reading that letter had only made me angry again. He had no idea how I felt, how could he. The worst part was that I had put my trust in this guy and he just threw it back at me. I didn't care how sorry he was. I grabbed up my books, ink and quills and stormed back down to where the other where waiting for me.

"What's wrong?" Harry asked when he saw the look on my face.

"I read that stupid letter from who ever that loser is" I snapped slightly.

I saw Ron stiffen out of the corner of my eye and Hermione shift slightly. I had forgotten I hadn't told either of them about the whole thing.

We walked down to the library and I told them the whole story from beginning to the end. From the first letter I had received right up to my reading of the final letter.

"And I was stupid enough to go along and meet the guy who didn't even show up" I finished.

"You're not stupid for trusting people" Hermione told me.

I looked at her a little shocked; it was the nicest thing she had said to me since we were 12. I looked over at Harry who just shrugged at her.

Ron still hadn't said anything about it, I didn't think twice about it. If it was me I'd wanna stay out of it, he was probably trying not to say something that would make matters worse.

We sat in the library until dinner just studying; it wasn't as boring as I had originally thought it would be. We actually covered a lot more than what we had actually learned.

We took our things back to the common room before heading down to dinner. Hermione and Harry went on ahead while I went upstairs to put my things away. Ron hung back and waited for me. I went to walk past him thinking he would just follow me, but he stayed still. I turned back to see what was wrong. He looked like he was internally arguing with himself. I walked over and placed my hand on his arm. He looked down at it and then up at me.

"What are you thinking so hard about?" I asked.

"I'm trying to decide whether or not I should tell someone something" he replied.

"It must be important if you're concentrating that much on it" I smiled at him.

"Yeah they're really important to me" he smiled back.

"I'm sure they'll understand" I pushed him playfully.

"Well I hope your right" he chuckled.

It saddened me a little knowing that he cared for someone so much, but on the other hand I was happy for him. I went to walk away again, but he still didn't move.

"What's up now?" I asked him with a slight laugh.

"Well Kim, you see…..the thing is… I wrote you those letters", he muttered.

"What?" I stuttered.

"I wrote you those letters and I was going to tell you the other night, but you know about the whole love potion and then poisoning thing got in the way" he ran his hand through his hair.

"Why would you do that?" I shouted at him.

I had no idea why I was getting so angry. It felt like he was playing some big game with my feelings. First there was the kiss at Christmas and now this.

"Because I didn't know how to tell you!" he shouted back.

"It's not hard Ronald!" I snapped, "You could have just come out with it instead of messing with my feelings"

"I didn't want it to ruin our friendship!"

"Ok so what was Lavender then? You were sending me letters while she was your girlfriend" I pointed out.

He thought hard about how he was going to answer that. He paused for a moment and then spoke.

"I still didn't know how you felt about me. I know now it was stupid, but I was trying to make you jealous" he explained.

"And you thought making me jealous would help how?" I asked angrily.

"I don't know!" he yelled.

"Well when you figure it out come and find me" I said before storming out of the room.

I didn't bother going to dinner, instead I went to a place I knew I could be alone. I walked down the corridor repeating in my head the same thing three times. I sighed in relief when the door appeared. I snuck inside closing the door quietly behind me.

I looked around the room and found everything I needed. There was a bed set up in the corner, a desk and chair against a wall, a lounge set up by a fire place and a table that already had dinner set on it.

I sat down and ate by myself before sitting by the fire and reading a book of one of the book shelves. I didn't have any plans on going back to the common room tonight. I was still angry at Ron, but part of me was overjoyed that he had feelings for me too.

It made me wonder though about whom else knew Ron was sending those letters. I had my suspicions that Harry was aware of it and I was definitely going to talk to him about it in the morning.

I didn't sleep in the bed; I fell asleep on the lounge in front of the fire. I was too comfortable to move so I didn't. I woke up and looked at my watch; it was almost time for breakfast. I got changed and headed down to the great hall. I was one of the first people there when I arrived. I found a seat and ate. Ginny came running over to me throwing herself at me into a hug.

"Where in the world were you?" she cried hitting me in the arm.

"Ow! I was in the room of requirement" I told her.

"Why?" she asked sitting down beside me.

I was about to explain when I saw him coming. He was walking with Harry and Hermione. He looked at me long and hard before lowering his head and sitting down quietly.

"I'll tell you later" I said to Ginny.

I stood up and looked down at a sitting Harry. I nodded towards the door before asking my question.

"Can I talk to you please?" I asked him.

He nodded and stood back up. We walked out of the great hall and down to the main entrance. I made sure no one else was listening before speaking.

"You knew didn't you" I stated.

"Knew about what?" he asked.

"You knew Ron was writing those letters and you didn't tell me" I slapped his arm.

"Ok maybe I did, but he swore me to secrecy" Harry defended himself.

"Your supposed to be my friend" I hit him again.

"But he's my best friend too".

He held up his hands like he was afraid I was going to hit him again, but I didn't. Harry was one of my closest friends and because of Ginny he knew I liked Ron.

"He really does like you" Harry tried assuring me.

Part of me wanted to believe it, but there was something inside that just couldn't get a grasp on the fact of him feeling the same way. It was like all the years of telling myself it would never happen were stopping me from accepting what might be.

We walked back to breakfast and sat back down. Ron still wouldn't look me in the eye; in fact he wouldn't even look in my general direction.

We went to all our classes and he didn't speak a word unless spoken too. When dinner finally came he had barely said ten words to anyone and none to me at all. It was beginning to get just a little weird.

We were studying of potions topics by the fire when he finally spoke to me. Hermione had gone in search of some more ink and Harry pretended that he wasn't listening. It really caught me by surprise.

"I'm sorry for everything" he mumbled just loud enough for me to hear.

"It's ok, I'm over it" I brushed it off.

I really didn't want to fight with him anymore. The fighting seemed to hurt more than the actual lying anyway.

He moved so he was sitting next to me on the floor. For the first time in the whole day he actually looked into my eyes.

"Do you think maybe one day we could give us a go?" he asked in almost a whisper.

I looked at the sincerity in his eyes. I wanted to say yes and throw myself into his arms, but I knew I couldn't do that. I knew that things were still raw between him and Lavender and I wasn't one for hurting people who were already down enough.

"Look Ron, as much as I want to say yes I just cant right now", I told him.

He sighed and rested his head in his hands. It hurt me so much to see him like that.

"It's not a no Ron, it's more of a just not now" I explained.

He nodded silently and went back to his studies. He seemed a little happier than at my first explanation. I looked up at Harry who nodded at me, letting me know I had done the right thing. The right thing for me at least, there was no way I was going to be the rebound girl. If there was going to be and us between Ron and myself, then we were going to do it right.

I didn't sleep at all that night, all I could think about was how I had just shut down the one guy I had like for what felt like forever.

Classes seemed to flow together through the weeks. Before we knew it, it was Easter and that meant when the break was over our exams would begin.

Things between Ron and I were slowly getting back to what they were. The awkwardness had started to go away and we were able to hang out like we did before all of this happened.

We could feel a change brewing around us, but we just didn't know what kind of change was coming. Even Hermione was talking to me more and that was the most unexpected of all.

Harry and Ginny had been getting closer as well. Harry and Malfoy had gotten into a fight which didn't end well for Harry. He had used one of the spells he had found in his potions book on Draco and got himself into great trouble especially with Snape who found the two boys in the bathroom. After the incident, Harry decided that the book had to go. Ginny took him up to the room of requirement and the two of them got rid of the book. We don't know what else happened up there, but things were different between them when they got back.

I had tried to get Ginny to spill on the subject, but she wouldn't budge. She wouldn't tell me a thing about it and there was no way Harry was going to tell any of us.

Harry's work with Dumbledore was also becoming more dangerous. He still hadn't managed to get the key memory that Dumbledore was after and Harry was getting desperate.

We were sitting in the common room one Saturday when inspiration struck him.

"I know what I have to do!" he exclaimed.

His out burst made us all jump a foot in the air in surprise. Hermione literally threw her book at him she was that shocked.

"I know how to get the memory" he elaborated this time.

"Well don't leave us hanging" I laughed.

We waited to hear what he had to say. Instead of telling us, he ran up to the boys dormitory and returned with a familiar little vile of liquid in his hands.

"All I need is a bit of luck" he smirked.

"That's brilliant Harry, why didn't we think of this before?" Ron asked.

"You know what, I really don't know" Harry laughed.

We watched Harry take a big swig of the liquid luck and waited to see what would happen. A big smile slowly appeared on his face.

"How do you feel?" Hermione asked after a few minutes.

"I feel great!" Harry cheered.

He stood up triumphantly and marched out of the common room. We looked around at each other and laughed slightly. Ginny joined us not long after Harry left and together we waited up to see when he would come back.

It was getting late and Harry still hadn't returned. Ginny had long since gone to bed and Ron, Hermione and I were having trouble staying awake ourselves.

I could feel myself dozing off as I lay on the floor by the fire. I don't know when, but eventually I fell asleep.

I was awoken by an excited Harry. He proceeded to wake the others to tell us what had happened.

"I did it guys, I got the memory" he grinned.

"That's great" I congratulated him, rubbing the sleep out of my eyes.

"So what happens now?" Hermione asked him.

"Well after the break Dumbledore is taking me on a mission with him to see if we can track down a horcrux" he explained.

He told us about what happened earlier that night. From where he had met up with Slughorn to where he had gone and visited Hagrid. He even told us about the funeral they had held for Aragog, Hagrid's spider friend we had all been acquainted with in our second year.

Neither Ron nor I complained about the loss of Aragog, we both found spiders to be utterly disgusting and wouldn't miss him one bit. Hermione thought it was sweet of Hagrid to hold a funeral for his friend, but even she was a bit squeamish when it came to spiders.

"Hagrid gave him a bit of alcohol after the funeral and he just opened up about the whole thing with Riddle" Harry explained.

Once we ha got all the details from Harry, we said our good nights and went to bed.

The holidays came and went, but we stayed at Hogwarts this time. Harry was trying to be as prepared as possible for when he went with Dumbledore. We helped as much as we could, but when we didn't know what to expect it made it harder.

When the night came, we wished Harry luck and watched him head for Dumbledore's office. He still had no idea what Dumbledore had in store for him, but he hoped that he was ready fro what ever was coming. Things didn't feel right around the school; it felt like something was going to happen and it wasn't going to be good.

After dinner we headed back to the common rooms. The halls were eerily quiet. We stopped walking when we could hear footsteps heading our way. Ron, Hermione and I hid behind one of the armor statues and stayed as quiet as possible.

A group of dark figures moved past us at haste. They were lead at the front by Draco and it looked like they were headed for the astronomy tower, but we didn't know why. What we did know was that they shouldn't have been here in the school. My first instinct was to find Professor Magonagall, so we ran back to the great hall hoping she hadn't left yet.

We were in luck; she was still sitting at the teachers table at the front of the Hall. We ran up to her and hurriedly told her what we had seen. She stood up immediately and gathered the teachers and followed us to where we had seen the figures.

Everything seemed to move in slow motion after that. We heard screaming coming from one of the floors above us and then out the window we watched as our head master fell to the ground.

"No!" I cried.

We ran over to the window and were just in time to see Dumbledore's body hit the ground. Professor Magonagall let out a cry and we all ran down to the grounds.

We all ran as fast as our feet would carry us down to the court yard, I couldn't help but think that this couldn't be happening. This wasn't supposed to be happening.

We weren't the only ones that had seen what had happened. When we reached the court yard we found many of the other student's sad gazes falling upon the body in front of us.

Dumbledore lay lifeless on the ground in front of us. No one could move a muscle; all we could do was watch. I could feel the tears already streaming down my face.

There was another loud scream that made us all look up to the astronomy tower. There in the observation desk was Bellatrix Lestrange and other death eaters. I could see both Snape and Draco Malfoy amongst them. Harry had been right, Malfoy was up to something and Snape was in on it.

Bellatrix cackled and pointed her wand into the air sending a red light into the sky. We all watched as Voldemort's dark mark appeared in the sky above the school.

Harry appeared beside us. He rushed over to the side of Dumbledore's body. I felt useless watching Harry; it hurt all of us to see all of this.

Ginny reached Harry's side and held him tightly as he cried. Ron wrapped his arms around Hermione and me as we too let out our sadness.

The others raised there wands and removed the dark mark from the sky. We didn't expect what Harry did next.

He got to his feet and ran after the fleeing death eaters. He sent curses flying after them. I wanted to try and stop him, but we knew there was no use.

We were still trying to come to terms with the fact that this amazing wizard was never going to grace this school with his presence again. We were never going to see that twinkle in his eye over his half moon spectacles like we had grown a custom to over the years or hear his bizarre welcome back speeches after the summer breaks.

Things were just never going to be the same again at Hogwarts.

Hagrid found Harry later, lying by the forest in tears. It was hard to listen to him describe it.

Due to the events, Professor Magonagall and the other teachers had come to the decision to cancel the end of year exams. They felt the students had been traumatized enough by the events to be put through any examinations. We were all very grateful.

Harry didn't speak much to anyone; we would cringe up if anyone so much as mentioned what had happened. We felt like he was blaming himself for the events that had unfolded. He spent most of his time sitting in professor Dumbledore's office staring at the painting that had been added to the wall of headmasters.

Professor Magonagall had questioned Harry about the events while we were there. She thought he would be more comfortable with us there to support him.

He told her about some of the details about the mission, but mainly told her what he had seen while hidden in the astronomy tower and how Snape had betrayed them all.

"He was in on it all along, Malfoy's mission was to kill Dumbledore and when he couldn't do it Snape fulfilled his unbreakable vow and did it for him" his voice cracked as he spoke.

The memory was still very raw in Harry's mind. Draco Malfoy and Professor Snape had since fled the school grounds and hadn't been seen since that night. We hadn't expected either of them to show their faces, not now that the ministry was looking for them and the members of the Order of the Phoenix.

The Funeral was held on the school grounds looking out to the lake and the forbidden forest. We could see the centaur that lived in the forest emerge to pay their respects for the fallen wizard. Even the merpeople surfaced as a sign of respect.

Everyone from the minister of Magic, to the order of the phoenix came to see Dumbledore and bid him farewell. He was such an influential wizard in the magical society; he would be dearly missed by almost everyone.

Dumbledore was laid to rest on the small island in the middle of the lake on the Hogwarts grounds. Everyone thought it fitting for Dumbledore to rest in the place he treasured the most, in the school that he loved dearly.

At the end of the funeral the students were dismissed and allowed to go home early. The events that had fallen upon us, well it was hard for us all we thought as we packed our trunks. We rode the Hogwarts express back to London and just talked about anything that would distract us from what had happened.

"I'm not going back" Harry declared.

"We know" Hermione told him.

"You guy will be alright, your strong enough to get through it" he told us.

"You really are thick sometimes Harry" I smiled at him.

"You do realize your not going to be able to do this all on your own" Hermione added.

"We're going with you mate" Ron shoved his friend playfully before adding, "but don't tell mum yet".

"I can't ask you guys to do that" he frowned.

"Harry you aren't asking us, we're telling you" I laughed.

"Well you know this is going to be dangerous" he told us.

We all nodded after all he wasn't telling us anything that we didn't already know. We had known this was coming, we just hadn't expected to be facing it with out Dumbledore's guiding hands.

When we got back to Kings Cross station, we said good bye to each other. We would be going out separate ways until Ron's older brothers wedding. Hermione and I had sat down and talked for the first time in many years and we had both agreed that our families were going to be in a lot of danger especially since they were Muggles.

She had told me that just before she was going to leave she was going to erase their memories and send them to visit relatives in Australia. She said she would change them back one day, but not until after the danger was gone.

I had to admit her plan was a good idea, but I didn't want to go as far as to erase my family's memories. I was planning on sitting them down and telling them that their lives were in danger and that it would be a wise idea to maybe go and stay with my mother's cousin in America. I had no idea how they were going to take the news. I thought they might take it better if I didn't tell them that I was going off with Harry, Ron and Hermione to look for objects to destroy so we could bring down Lord Voldemort though.

I hugged the others good bye and said a quick hello to Mr. and Mrs. Weasley. I knew I would be seeing them again soon, but it wasn't going to be soon enough.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Darkness falls

I found my parents waiting for me on the Muggle side of platform 9 and ¾. After six years of me attending Hogwarts, neither of them had the courage to walk through the barrier. I threw myself into theirs arms and hugged them tightly.

"How was school?" my mother asked.

"As crazy as ever" I sighed to her.

"We got a letter about your headmaster" my dad mentioned as we walked to the car.

I nodded so he knew that I had heard him, but I didn't say anything. Dumbledore's death was still fresh in ours minds and it still pained us to think about never seeing our beloved Professor again.

"Do you wanna talk about it sweetie?" mum said as she hugged me again.

"Not just yet" I told them.

They knew me well; they were my parents after all, so they knew that when I was comfortable enough I would talk to them about it. They didn't press the issue after that.

The ride home wasn't an awful long one, but when you have so many things going on in your head at once it made the car ride feel like an eternity. When we got home dad helped me carry my trunk up to my room and mum helped me unpack my things. Although putting my things away was a little pointless since I was going to repack another bag shortly, but I wasn't going to tell my parents that, then they would definitely know something was up.

Once everything was unpacked, my mum and I got started on dinner. We had just sat down to eat when Errol, Mr. Weasley's owl cam tumbling through our back door. I hurried over to help him up and took the letter from his leg.

"That's one thing I'll never get used to" my mum chuckled lightly.

"I know what you mean" dad agreed.

I smiled at my parents, they still didn't understand why wizards just didn't use the ordinary post to send mail, and I tried explaining to them that owls were faster and in some cases more reliable, but they still didn't get it.

I turned back to the letter and saw it was Mrs. Weasley's hand writing. I opened it up and read it to myself at first; I didn't want to read it out to my parents if it was bad news.

_Hello dear_

_I know you probably just got home, but I wasn't sure if Ron mentioned Bill's wedding this summer. He was supposed to invite you to stay with us for it, but knowing Ron I'm sure he forgot._

_Just send your reply back with Errol Dear and feel free to come whenever you feel like, your always welcome._

_Love Molly_

I smiled at Mrs. Weasley; she didn't give Ron enough credit sometimes. I grabbed some paper off the bench in the kitchen and jotted down my reply, I didn't want to keep Errol waiting any longer.

_Hi Mrs. Weasley_

_Yes Ron did mention the up coming wedding and I would love to come and celebrate this happy occasion with your family. _

_I just have to do something's at home and then I will head to the burrow via the flu system. I should be there by the end of the month._

_See you soon_

_Love Kim_

I attached the letter securely to Errol and took him outside so he didn't hit any walls. When I came back in my parents were watching me very closely.

"It was Mrs. Weasley checking if I was still coming to the wedding" I explained.

I had told my parents about the wedding on the car ride home. I told them they were more than welcome to go, but they happily declined. They knew the Weasley's, but that's where their knowledge of what wizards was like stopped. I didn't push them because I didn't want them to feel uncomfortable.

We went back and finished dinner before heading into the living room to relax. I knew I had to tell my parents that's times weren't safe for them anymore, but I didn't know how I was going to put it delicately.

I waited until they were both content and relaxed before I struck up the conversation.

"Mum, dad do you think we could talk about something?" I asked.

Dad raised an eyebrow curiously, but nodded yes so I continued.

"I was wondering if you two would consider going and visiting Aunt Sue and Uncle Garry in America for a few months" I said rather quickly.

"And why would we do that?" dad asked.

"Well the thing is, things are about to get very dangerous in the Wizarding world, especially for families like ours" I explained.

"Why is that?" mum asked this time.

"There is an evil wizard who is almost invincible and his powers are getting stronger. He was the one that killed Harry's parents and he doesn't like wizards and witches born to non magical parents" I went on.

I had told my parents many years ago about what had happened to Harry's parents and how he survived. They had felt so horrible about it that they even offered for him to come and stay with us over the summer, but Dumbledore insisted that harry go back to his Aunt and Uncle.

"So if were over in America, where will you be?"

"I was going to stay with the Weasley's until school and when school is over coming to find you" I said.

I knew I was leaving out the part about going in search for the Horcruxes so we could destroy them and ultimately destroy Voldemort, but they didn't need to know that much.

My parents looked at each other quietly. I knew they were thinking about what I had told them and I expected them to go against everything and just stay. If that was the case then I was going to have to take Hermione's option and erase there memories of me and send them somewhere knew and I really didn't want it to come to that option.

"I suppose if it's for our safety we don't really have a choice do us" mum sighed lightly.

"I'll call Sue and see if she'd like a visit then" dad nodded and walked over to the phone.

I moved and sat next to my mum. I hugged her never wanting to let go. I hated the feeling of leaving her, but I knew she'd be safer this way.

"I know there is more to this then you are telling us" she whispered so dad couldn't hear.

"I can't tell you though" I whispered my reply.

She nodded and I released her from my hug. About half an hour later we heard dad hang up the phone and walked back over to us. He sat back down in his seat and smiled.

"Sue said she'd love to have us and wants us to come as soon as we want"

I smiled happily at him. I knew they would be safer out of the country.

"So we should start packing in the morning" mum said standing up and stretching.

We headed off to bed after that. In the morning after breakfast my parents began their packing. And by the end of the week I was hugging them goodbye as they boarded their plane to the other side of the world.

I was sad, but relieved to see them go. I would miss them so much, but this was the safest thing for them. When it was safe to do so, I apparated home and began my own packing.

The house was so quiet that it had become a little eerie. I found myself leaving the TV on or the radio so that there was some kind of noise round me.

I felt like I had packed my bag and unpacked it again a hundred times, but I still felt like I couldn't fit in all the important things we might need.

I was about to throw the bag at the wall when I heard a 'pop' from down stairs. I grabbed my wand and tried to sneak down and see who or what it was. I could just make out a figure in the dark when I reached the top of the stairs.

"Kim?" it called out in a loud whisper.

That wasn't a voice I had expected to hear at all. I had no idea what would bring her here looking for me.

"Hermione?" I said a little louder.

"_Lumos"_ she said and shown the light towards me.

"What are you doing here?" I asked her lowering my wand.

"I came to see if you needed help with your parents or packing" she explained.

"Thanks, but my parents are already gone" I told her, "but packing is driving me nuts".

She followed me up the stairs to my room to see if she could help me with my bag. I noticed that all she had with her was a small backpack and a small clutch purse.

She noticed me looking at her confused and explained what she had done.

"I've bewitched the clutch so it can fit everything that I thought we might need, I could do it for your backpack if you like" she suggested.

"Thanks that would be great" I handed her my bag.

When she had done her magic she handed the bag back. It was no longer bulging out the sides with things like it had been earlier.

"Why the change of heart towards me?" I asked her seriously.

I thought it was a little weird that she had gone from practically hating my guts to actually offering me help with things. I didn't even think that she wanted me to come with them on this mission.

"well, I figured we need all the help and ideas we can get and I know you are pretty bright when you put your mind to it, not to mention Harry pointed out that I might have been a bit harsh about the Ron thing" she explained.

"Really?" I asked unsure if what she was telling me was true.

"It doesn't mean that I like you though" she added.

I nodded and smiled. I knew not everything had changed there. Once we were sure we had all the things we would need, the two of us headed for bed. I offered Hermione the spare room we had which she accepted the moment I said it had its own bathroom. I knew that was something both of us were going to miss once we were on this journey.

The next day we headed off to the Burrow. We used the fire place in my living room and some flu powder I had bought the last time we were at Hogsmeade. Hermione went first and when the green flames had died down I stood in the fireplace. I felt the odd pull behind my naval and before I knew it I was falling out of the fireplace at the Burrow.

"Mum Hermione and Kim are here!" Ginny yelled for her mother.

She hugged both of us as if she hadn't seen us in years. Mrs. Weasley's head appeared in the door way to the living room. She smiled happily when she saw us.

"Girls it's good to see you!" she hugged us as well.

"It's good to see you too" I replied.

"Ginny will help you take your things upstairs, you girls are sharing with Ginny and Fleur" Mrs. Weasley told us.

I shot Ginny a confused look and she rolled her eyes. I knew she was going to complain about her later when Fleur and Mrs. Weasley were out of ear shot.

Ginny lead us up to her room. There were four beds crammed into the small room. Hermione and I put our stuff down on our beds and sat down with Ginny.

"She is absolutely driving me nuts, the twins have started calling her Phlegm because that's the feeling they get when she is around!" she whined.

"She can't really be that bad can she?" Hermione dared to ask.

Ginny glared at her for not believing and called for the twins to come to her room. Fred and George apparated into the room within seconds of Ginny's yell.

"What's the matter little sister?" George asked.

"Is Phlegm at it again?" Fred added.

"See what I mean" she smirked at Hermione.

I laughed at them a little too loudly. The twins turned around not realizing that Hermione and I were even there.

"Hey it's brainy and short stuff" Fred said as he came over to hug us.

"Both looking well of course" George hugged us as well.

Ginny told them about Hermione not understanding the Fleur issue they were having. The boys told us about the tension between fleur and Mrs. Weasley over everything.

The five of us sat in the room talking about what had been happening with all the wedding plans and the things happening in the wizarding world.

We were beginning to get a little carried away, when there was a knock on Ginny's door. Fleur stuck her head in.

"Dinner iz almozt ready" she told us in her strong accent.

"Ok we're coming" Ginny replied.

Ginny and Hermione walked ahead, following Fleur down to the kitchen. I was about to follow them when Fred grabbed my arm.

"Can we talk to you for a sec?" he asked.

"Sure what's up?" I replied.

"Its about Ron, he told us about what happened with you two at school" he explained.

"we don't condone how our brother went about things, but do you think you could give him a shot, he has like you for as long as we can remember" George continued.

"Let me think about It, ok?" I told them.

The truth was I hadn't stopped thinking about it since the break began. It was all I could think about, I wanted so much for there to be an us when it came to Ron and I, but I guess I was just scared.

The two boys nodded and proceeded to push me out of Ginny's room and down to the kitchen. We laughed the whole way down making everyone look as us weirdly.

I sat down between Ginny and Fleur, Ginny looked like she was ready to stab her with her fork and I couldn't let that happen. She smiled at me and whispered a thank you.

We ate dinner and chatted about happier things. Apparently Mrs. had brought in a nothing but happy talk at dinner time rule since everyone had been home. I didn't blame her; the things that were happening around us were not pleasant at all.

I hadn't even noticed Ron sitting across from me. He hadn't said a word the whole time Hermione and I had been there that I was starting to think he wasn't there at all. I smiled at him over the table and he smiled back, but still didn't say anything. Maybe the twins were right; maybe I needed to have a talk to Ron.

That was all well and good, but Mrs. Weasley didn't really give us a chance to talk to each other. After dinner she ushered us off to bed and then in the morning we were put to work cleaning up the house to get it ready for when the wedding guests arrived.

About a week out from the wedding I still hadn't gotten a chance to talk to Ron. The order was collecting Harry from his Aunt and Uncle's house that night so I knew that I would be able to talk to him tonight.

Everyone was off on this mission except for Mrs. Weasley, Ginny and myself. I was angry that I wasn't allowed to go and help and that slime ball Mudungus Fletcher was allowed to go.

All we could do was sit, wait and worry for them to come home. The plan was that they were going to have some of the others to take some polyjuice potion and there would be seven Harry's. Each of the Harry's was going to be paired up with someone from the order and the pairs were going to be travelling by means that couldn't be tracked by the ministry. Some would travel by Thestrals, others by brooms and Hagrid who had the real Harry would be using Sirius's flying motorcycle.

Ginny and I sat in the kitchen and waited quietly, while Mrs. Weasley busied herself cooking so she was distracted. Time seemed to tick by so slowly it was almost unbearable. We waited and waited then finally we heard a loud rumble. The three of us ran outside to see Hagrid land the motorcycle roughly. He and Harry got out and ran over.

Ginny and I threw our arms around Harry and hugged him afraid if we let go he would vanish. Only minutes later Lupin appeared with his wand raised at Hagrid. Only when he knew it was the real Hagrid did he lower his wand. Then one by one the other pairs appeared.

George came in covered in blood; He was so pale we all froze. They carried him inside and put him down on the couch. Mrs. Weasley fussed over George; it was his ear it appeared to have been taken off by a curse.

Fred's face was almost as pale as George's when he saw his brother. He knelt beside his injured brother.

"Look Fred I'm holy" George managed to say to his brother.

"What did you say?" Fred asked.

George pointed at his ear and repeated his sentence again.

"See I'm holy" he said again.

"Of all the ear related humor, you chose holy" Fred chuckled.

We left Mrs. Weasley to tend to her fallen son and moved into the Kitchen. The mood was beyond tense in the tiny kitchen.

"Mad eye is dead" Kingsley Shacklebolt told us, "Mudungus took one look at the you know who and apparated".

I couldn't believe what I had heard, I knew Mudungus was a know good slime ball, but I didn't think he would sink that low.

"They new we were moving him tonight" Mr. Weasley pointed out.

Before they started going further into details we were all sent upstairs and out of ear shot. We all trudged up the stairs a little hurt that they still didn't trust us enough to let us in on what they were talking about.

Ginny and I went straight to bed, while Harry, Ron and Hermione sat up in Ron's room talking about what had happened. I wanted to know what had happened, but right now I just wanted to sleep.

In the morning we were greeted by a visitor we had not expected to see. During the middle of breakfast we were joined by the minister of Magic himself. He sat down with Harry, Ron, Hermione and I in the living room. He pulled out a piece of parchment and held it in front of us.

"I have here the final will of Albus Dumbledore", he stated.

"really?" I asked.

"yes he has left you all something".

He unfolded the parchment and began to read its contents out to us.

"to Mr. Ronald Bilius Weasley, I here by leave my deluminator".

The minister handed Ron the deluminator and watched him very carefully as Ron used it to put out the candle on the table and then re light it again.

"wicked" Ron muttered.

"to Miss Hermione Jane Granger, I here by leave my copy of 'the tale of Beedle and Bard'" he handed Hermione the book.

She flicked through the pages briefly and then placed it into her lap neatly. Again The minister watched her like a Hawk.

"To Miss Kimberley Sue Wilson, I leave my phoenix Falk's" he continued.

"wow" was all I managed as Falk's appeared on the window sill.

I hadn't expected Dumbledore to leave me anything let alone his Phoenix. I really didn't know what else to say.

"and to Mr. Harry James Potter, I leave the golden snitch he captured in his first Quidditch match", the minister handed Harry the snitch.

Harry examined it carefully and placed it into his pocket. We all then turned back to the Minister of Magic waiting or him to go on.

"he also left you the sword of Godric Gryffindor, but as it was not his to give I am unable to hand it over today" he finished.

"what?" I asked.

"Harry pulled the sword out of the sorting Hat back in the second year, the sword chose him" Hermione pointed out.

"Not quite Miss Granger, the sword of Godric Gryffindor will appear to any true Gryffindor when it Is needed, not just Mr. potter" He went on.

He starred at us seriously for a moment before he spoke again.

"So why do you believe that Dumbledore left you four these particular things?" he asked.

"Because he liked us?" I suggested.

I don't think any of us knew why Dumbledore had given us these things, but we did know why he chose us. We knew it was something to do with this mission, but we weren't going to tell him that.

"We really don't know" Harry told him.

He could see that he wasn't going to get anything out of us, so he stood up and bid us farewell. He spoke to Mr. Weasley briefly before apparating.

Once he was gone, Mrs. Weasley sent us a back to work. Before we knew it Fleur's family had arrived. Mrs. Weasley had her parents set up in Percy's old room and her sister was in with us, which made the room even squishier.

The day of the wedding came faster than any of us had expected. Ginny, Hermione and I watched the boys setting up the tent while we were getting ready. Ginny had chosen a black and white dress that sat just above the knees, with matching heels and wore her hair straight and down. Hermione wore a red dress that flowed down, with small sleeves. Ginny managed to unfrizz her hair so it curled up nicely. I on the other had had picked out a blue dress that had glittery thread through it. I pulled my hair up half way and curled the bottom layer.

Out the window when the tent was finally up and the boys were inside getting ready, we watched as One by one the guests started arriving. Most of them apparated, but some chose to come by broom and flu powder.

The ceremony was beautiful and it had both Fleur's mother and Mrs. Weasley in tears. I sat towards the back with Harry, who had taken some polyjuice potion to make him look like a Muggle boy from a near by town. The order didn't think that it would be safe for Harry to be there as himself.

After the ceremony the guests began eating and dancing and having an all round good time. I went inside and changed from my heels into some flats that were far more comfortable. When I walked back outside I found Harry sitting by himself at one of the tables. I sat down beside him and looked over to where he was staring.

He had been watching Ginny dancing with Bill. I could see the longing in his eyes. It was hard to miss how much Harry felt for Ginny.

My eyes moved from Ginny and Bill over to where Hermione and Ron were dancing. They laughed with each other so easily and looked like they were having such a good time.

"It's hard to sit back and watch when all you wanna do is go to them" he said bluntly to me.

I nodded in reply; I did know exactly how he felt. We sat there for a few more moments just watching the celebrations.

"Why don't you ask her to dance?" I suggested to him, "It may be the last chance you get for a while".

"I could say the same thing to you" he replied.

Ron turned to look at us; I figured he was probably checking to see if Harry was still ok. His eyes grew wide when they met my own. It was like he had never seen me before. I knew we hadn't seen each other all day before the wedding, but I didn't think it would be that much of a shock to him.

He said something to Hermione and they both walked over and sat down.

"Do you wanna dance?" He asked me holding out his hand.

It was the first thing he had really said to me and with all of the chores Mrs. Weasley had us doing over the last couple of weeks, we really hadn't had a chance to talk.

"Sure" I smiled taking his out stretched hand.

He pulled me out onto the dance floor as a slower song came on. I wasn't a very good dancer; I spent the whole time trying to remember the lessons professor Magonagall had given us back in the fourth year.

"Have you heard anything from your parents?" he asked as we danced.

"Nothing yet. I sent them an owl the other day, but they know it's not safe for mail" I explained.

"You look amazing" he said.

I watched as his ears turned that familiar shade of pink. I smiled and felt my own cheeks reddening under his gaze.

"Thanks, you look very handsome as well" I told him.

We continued dancing as the song changed into the next. I noticed Hermione pushing Harry towards Ginny, trying to get him to dance with her.

"I'm sorry I wasn't honest with you about how I felt" Ron said not looking directly at me.

"Its ok, I wasn't honest about how felt about you either" I replied.

I don't know what possessed me to do what I did, but before I could think about it properly, I had grabbed a hold of the front of Ron's shirt and pulled his lips down to my own.

I kissed him like we had kissed under the mistletoe at Christmas only this time I didn't have that little voice at the back of my mind telling me it was wrong. No this time that little voice was cheering me on.

Ron seemed a little shocked at first, but it didn't take him long before he was kissing me back.

We probably would have stayed like that a lot longer if it wasn't for the Patronus that grabbed everyone's attention.

It appeared in the middle of the tent with a message to all the guests at the wedding.

"The ministry has fallen. The minister of Magic is dead. Their coming".

Everybody began to panic. People were apparating out of the tent everywhere. There was a loud bang and people began to scream. Someone was sending curses flying all over the place.

Ron grabbed a hold of my hand and held it tightly as he pulled me in search of Harry and Hermione. The moment we had found them Hermione grabbed on to Ron and apparated us out of there.

This was definitely the beginning of something terrible.


End file.
